FRENC 


"^Wo^, ^S 


LIBRARY 

THE  UNIVERSITY 

OF  CALIFORNIA 

SANTA  BARBARA 


PRESENTED  BY 

ERIC  SCHMIDT 


THE    HISTORY   OF 
FRENCH    LITERATURE 


THE    HISTORY   OF 

i 

FRENCH    LITERATURE 

FROM   THE    OATH    OF   STRASBURG 
TO    CHANTICLER 


BY 


ANNIE    LEMP    KONTA 


NEW, YORK    AND    LONDON 
D.    APPLETON     AND     COMPANY 

IQIO 


COPYRIGHT,  1909,  BY 
D.  APPLETON  AND  COMPANY 


Published  December,  1909 


CONTENTS 


I. — THE  MIDDLE  AGES 1-12 

Origins  of  the  French  Language  and  Literature — Oath  of 
Strassburg — Langue  d'oc  and  Langue  d'oil. 

II.— EPICS  13-32 

Jongleurs — Trouveres — Chansons  de  Geste — Chanson  de  Roland 
— Breton  Cycle — Chrestien  de  Troyes. 

III. — FABLIAUX 33-54 

Le  Vilain  Mire — Ysopets — Roman  de  Renart — Aucassin  et 
Nicolette  —  Bibles  —  Dits  —  Legs  —  Fatraisies  —  Bestiaires  — 
Lapidaires — Valuer  air  es — Roman  de  la  Rose. 

IV. — CHRONICLES  AND  HISTORY „    55-62 

Villehardouin — Joinville — Froissart — Commines — Alain  Char- 
tier. 

V. — THE  THEATER  IN  THE  MIDDLE  AGES     ....         63-74 
Mysteres — Miracles — Confrerie   de    la    Passion — Basoche — En- 
jants  Sans  Souci — Soties — Moralites — Farce — Farce  du  Cuvier 
— Farce  de  Maitre  Pathelin. 

VI. — LYRIC  POETRY 75-91 

Chansons    de     Toile — Pastourelle — Troubadours — Sirventes — 
Tensons — Arnaut  de  Marveil — Bertrand  de  Born — Bernard  de 
Ventadour — Arnaud  Daniel — Guiraut  de  Bomeil — Marcabrun. 

VII. — POPULAR  POETRY 92-104 

Olivier  Basselin — Vaux  de  Vire — Charles  d'OrlSans — Frangois 
Villon — Petit  Testament — Grand  Testament. 

VIII. — THE  RENAISSANCE 105-116 

Guillaume  Bude — Robert  and  Henry  Estienne — Calvin. 

v 


CONTENTS 

CHAPTER  PAGES 

IX. — SIXTEENTH  CENTURY  WRITERS 117-128 

Rabelais — Garganiua — Pantagruel — Amyot — Lives  oj  Plutarch 
— Montaigne — Essays. 

X. — SIXTEENTH  CENTURY  POETRY  AND  PROSE  .  .  .  129-149 
Marot — The  P16iade — Ronsard — Regnier — Malherbe — Tragedy 
— Montchr^tien — Robert  Gamier — Alexandra  Hardy — Satire 
Menippee  —  Me"moires  —  Montluc  —  La  Noue  —  Brantome  — 
D'Aubign6 — Aventures  du  Baron  de  Foeneste — Les  Tragiques — 
Heptameron. 

XI. — THE  SEVENTEENTH  CENTURY 150-165 

H6tel  de  Rambouillet — L'Astre'e — Pre'cieuses — Voiture — G.  de 
Balzac — Scarron  and  the  Burlesque  Genre — Cyrano  de  Berge- 
rac — Foundation  of  the  French  Academy. 

XII.-— CORNEILLE 166-181 

Comedy  and  Tragedy. 

XIII. — TRANSITION  OF  MEDIAEVAL  PHILOSOPHY   .       .       .     182-187 
Descartes. 

XIV.— PORT-ROYAL 188-195 

Jansenism — Pascal — Lettres  Provinciales — Pensees. 

XV.— THE  CLASSIC  FRENCH  SCHOOL 196-237 

Racine — Arguments  of  Andromaque,  Britannicus,  Berenice, 
Phedra,  Bajazet,  Esther,  Athalie — Boileau — Epitres — Satires — 
L'Art  Poetique — Boileau's  Influence — Moliere — The  Man — The 
Writer — Arguments  of  Le  Misanthrope,  Tartuffe,  Les  Femmes 
Savantes,  L'Avare — La  Fontaine — The  Man — The  Contes  and 
Fables. 

XVI.— LA  CHAIRE 238-251 

Bossuet,  a  Pillar  of  the  Church — Funeral  Orations  and  Other 
Notable  Works — Bourdaloue — Fe'nelon — Telemaque — Fle"chier 
— Memoires  sur  les  Grands  Jours  d'Auvergne — Massillon — 
Petit  Car  erne — Grand  Car  erne — Forensic  Eloquence. 

XVII.— LE  SIECLE  DE  Louis  XIV 252-274 

The  Great  Writers  and  Artists — Memoires — Mme.  de  Se'vigne^s 
Letters — Mme.  de  La  Fayette — Zayde — La  Princesse  de  Cleves 
— La  Rochefoucauld's  Maximes — Le  Cardinal  de  Retz — La 
Bruyere — Les  Caracteres — Saint-Simon's  Memoires — Lafosse — 

vi 


CONTENTS 

CHAPTER  PAGES 

Cre'billon — Rhadamiste  et  Zenobie — Quinault — Rollin — Male- 
branche — J.  B.  Rousseau — Regnard — Dufresny — Dancourt — 
Le  Sage — Turcaret — Gil  Bias — Bayle — Fontenelle. 

XVIII. — THE  EIGHTEENTH,  OR  PHILOSOPHIC,  CENTURY  .  275-285 
Influence  of  English  Writers — The  Reign  of  the  Favorites — 
The  Salons  of  the  Eighteenth  Century — The  Court  of  Sceaux — 
Mme.  de  Lambert — Mme.  de  Tencin — Mme.  Geoff rin — Mme. 
du  Deffand — Mme.  d'Epinay — Mme.  Necker — D'Holbach — 
Helvetius — Mme.  Roland. 

XIX.— VOLTAIRE 286-305 

Presented  to  Ninon  de  1'Enclos — His  Early  Productions — 
Voltaire  in  England — Voltaire  at  Cirey — Voltaire  at  the  Court 
of  Frederick  of  Prussia — Voltaire  at  Ferney — Voltaire  in 
Private  Life — Voltaire,  the  Writer — Voltaire's  Influence — Argu- 
ments of  Zaire,  Merope,  Alzire,  Mahomet. 

XX. — MONTESQUIEU,  BUFFON,  AND  ROUSSEAU  .  .  .  306-327 
Montesquieu — Lettres  Persanes — Grandeur  et  Decadence  des 
Romains — L'Esprit  des  Lois:  Importance  of  this  work — Buffon 
— Histoire  Naturelle — Rousseau — Discours  sur  les  Sciences,  etc. 
— Discours  sur  I'Inegalite — Le  Control  Social — Emile — Julie, 
ou  la  Nouvelle  Heloise — Confessions — Rousseau's  Influence  on 
Literature,  Morals,  and  Politics. 

XXI.— THE  ENCYCLOPEDISTS 328-334 

The  Physiocrates — Diderot — D'Alembert — Baron  Grimm — 
Condorcet. 

XXII. — TRAGEDY,    COMEDY,    "TEARFUL"    DRAMA,     POETRY, 

THE  NOVEL 335-348 

Sedaine — Mercier — Lemercier — Baculard  d '  Arnaud — Beaumar- 
chais — Le  Barbier  de  Seville — Le  Manage  de  Figaro — Marivaux 
— Destouches — La  Chaussee — PreVost — Manon  Lescaut — Gres- 
set  —  Vert-Vert  —  Piron  —  Lambert  —  Delille  —  Florian  — 
Fables  —  Ecouchard  Lebrun  —  Marmontel  —  Gilbert  —  Andre 
Che'nier — Odes — lambes — Bernardin  de  Saint-Pierre — Paul  et 
Virginie. 

XXIII. — THE  REVOLUTION  AND  ITS  LITERATURE       .       .     349-356 
Historical    Review — Political    Eloquence    and    Pamphlets — 
Mirabeau  —  Chamfort  —  Canaille    Desmoulins  —  The    Theater 
Songs — Marie  Joseph  Chenier — Vincent  Arnault — J.  B.  Legouve" 


CONTENTS 

CHAPTER  PAGES 

— La  Harpe — Duels — Collin  d'Harleville — Fabre  d'Eglantine — 
Ca  Ira — La  Carmagnole — La  Marseillaise. 

XXIV. — THE  NINETEENTH  CENTURY 357-369 

Goethe's  Influence — Reaction  in  Literature — Chateaubriand — 
Le  Genie  du  Christianisme — Atala — Rene — Les  Martyrs — Me- 
moires  d'Outre-Tombe — Mme.  de  Stael — Delphine — Corinne — 
De  I'Allemagne — Mme.  Re'camier. 

XXV.— THE  ROMANTICISTS 370-391 

Lamartine — Histoire  des  Girondins — Meditations  Poetiques — 
Harmonies  Poetiques  et  Religieuses — Jocelyn — Victor  Hugo — 
The  Dramatist — Arguments  of  Hernani,  Ruy  Bias — The  Novel- 
ist— Notre  Dame  de  Paris — Les  Miserables — The  Poet — Les 
Orientales — Les  Feuilles  d'Automne — Les  Chants  du  Crepuscule 
— Les  Chdtiments — La  Legende  des  Siecles — Alfred  de  Musset — 
Contes  d'Espagne  et  d'ltalie — Poesies  Nouvettes — Comedies  et 
Proverbes — Andre  del  Sarto — La  Confession  d'un  Enfant  du 
Siecle — Alfred  de  Vigny — Poemes  Antiques  et  Modernes — Les 
Destinees — Cinq-Mars  —  Chatterton  —  Casimir  Delavigne  —  Les 
Messeniennes — Louis  XI — Les  Vepres  Siciliennes — Th£ophile 
Gautier — Emaux  et  Camees — Le  Capitaine  Fracasse — Les  Gro- 
tesques. 

XXVI. — THE  HUMORISTS  AND  THE  SATIRISTS  .  .  .  392-400 
Charles  Nodier — Xavier  de  Maistre — Voyage  autour  de  ma 
Chambre — Toepffer — La  Bibliotheque  de  mon  Oncle — Nouvelles 
Genevoisses — Alphonse  Karr  —  Les  Gucpes  —  B6ranger  —  Paul 
Louis  Courier — Pamphlet  des  Pamphlets — Auguste  Barbier — 
lambes. 

XXVII.— THE  MODERN  NOVEL 401-416 

Idealistic  Fiction:  George  Sand — The  Three  Periods  of  her 
Literary  Career — Rural  Life  Sketches:  La  Mare  du  Diable — 
Alexandre  Dumas  pere — Les  Trois  Mousquetaires — Monte 
Cristo — Fr6de"ric  Souli4 — Memoires  du  Diable — Eugene  Sue — 
Le  Juif  Errant — Paul  de  Kock — Hector  Malot — Sans  Famille — 
George  Ohnet — Le  Maitre  de  Forges — Octave  Feuillet — Le 
Roman  d'un  Jeune  Homme  Pauvre — Julia  de  Trecaeur — M .  de 
Camors — Saintine — Picciola — Henri  Monnier — Memoire  de  M. 
Joseph  Prudhomme — Edmond  About — La  Grece  Contemporaine 
— LeRoi  des  Montagnes — Erckmann-Chatrian — Madame  Therese 

vni 


CONTENTS 

CHAPTER  PAGES 

— L'Ami  Fritz — Emile  Souvestre — Un  Philosophe  sous  les 
Toils — Jules  Verne — Voyage  au  Centre  de  la  Terre — Henry 
GreVille — Dosia — Victor  Cherbuliez — Le  Comte  Kostia — Andre" 
Theuriet — Le  Chemin  du  Bois — Mademoiselle  Guignon — Pierre 
Loti — Pecheur  d'Islande — Mon  Frere  Yves — Anatole  France — 
Le  Crime  de  Sylveslre  Bonnard — Jules  Lemaitre — Contes — Les 
Rois. 

XXVIII.— THE  REALISTIC  NOVEL 417-433 

Balzac — La  Comedie  Humaine — Merime'e — Colombo — Stendhal 
— La  Chartreuse  de  Parme — Le  Rouge  et  le  Noir — Flaubert — 
Madame  Bovary — Salammbo — Trois  Contes — Edmond  and 
Jules  de  Goncourt — Alphonse  Daudet — Lettres  de  man  Moulin 
— Fromont  Jeune  et  Risler  Aine — Numa  Roumestan — Tartarin. 

XXIX.— THE  NATURALISTIC  NOVEL 434-443 

Emile  Zola — Les  Rougon-Macquart — Guy  de  Maupassant — 
Short  Tales — Pierre  et  Jean — Une  Vie — Huysmans — La-Bos — 
En  Route — Marcel  PreVost — Fredirique — Lea — The  Psycholog- 
ical Novel — Edouard  Rod — L'Inutile  Effort — Les  Trois  Coeurs 
— Paul  Bourget — Le  Disciple — L'Etape — Paul  Margueritte — La 
Force  des  Choses — Maurice  Barres — J.  H.  Rosny — Ferdinand 
Fabre — L'Abbe  Tigrane — Jules  Renard — Willy — Le"on  Daudet 
— Jules  Claretie — Ecole  Naturiste — G.  de  Bouhe"lier — The 
Novel  of  the  Provinces — Moselly — Terres  Lorraines — J.  Ageor- 
ges — Capdeville — Pierre  Vernon — Rene"  Bazin — La  Terre  Qui 
Meurt — Le  Ble  Qui  Leve — Paul  Arene — Au  Bon  Soleil. 

XXX.— RECENT  POETRY 444-449 

The  Parnassiens — Leconte  de  Lisle — Baudelaire — Sully-Prud- 
homme — Jose"-Maria  de  He"redia — Francois  Copp4e — The  De- 
cadents or  Symbolists — Verlaine — Mallarme — De  R6gnier — 
Jean  Mor6as — Maeterlinck — Other  Poets — Richepin — Rostand 
— Mistral. 

XXXI.— PHILOSOPHERS 450-456 

Lamennais — Paroles  d'un  Croyant — Le  Livre  du  Peuple — De 
Bonald — Legislation  Primitive — Victor  Cousin — Du  Vrai,  du 
Beau,  et  du  Bien — Royer-Collard — Auguste  Comte — Cours  de 
Philosophic  Positive — Joubert — Pensees — Renan — Histoire  des 
Origines  du  Christianisme — Taine — De  I' Intelligence — Philoso- 
phic de  I'Art. 

ix 


CONTENTS 

CHAPTER  PAGB8 

XXXII.— HISTORIANS 457-462 

De  Barante — Histoire  des  Dues  de  Bourgogne — Thierry — Recits 
des  Temps  Merovingiens — Guizot — Histoire  Generate  de  la  Civil- 
isation en  Europe — Thiers — Histoire  du  Consulat  et  de  I' Empire 
— Mignet — Histoire  de  la  Revolution  Francaise — Michelet — 
Histoire  de  France — De  Tocqueville — La  Democratie  en  Ameri- 
gue — Fustel  de  Coulanges — La  Cite  Antique — Lanfrey — His- 
toire de  Napoleon — Henri  Martin — Histoire  de  France — Mme.  de 
R6musat — Memoires — Due  de  Broglie — Albert  Sorel — Thureau- 
Dangin — Ernest  Lavisse. 

XXXIII.— CRITICS 463-467 

Predecessors  of  Sainte-Beuve — Saint-Beuve — Portraits  Litter- 
aires — Causeries  du  Lundi — Scherer — Anatole  France — La  Vie 
Litteraire — Jules  Lemaitre — Les  Contemporains — Brunetiere — 
L'evolution  des  Genres,  etc. — Faguet. 

XXXIV.— THE  MODERN  DRAMA     ......     463-496 

Sardou — Dumas  fils — Augier — Scribe — Ponsard — Autran — De 
Bornier  — Richepin  —  Delphine  Gay  —  Labiche  —  Gondinet  — 
Pailleron  —  Meilhac  and  Halevy  —  Henri  Becque  —  Theatre 
Libre  —  De  Curel  —  Brieux  —  Ancey — Courteline — Lavedan — 
Hervieu — Maeterlinck — Rostand — Chanticler — Bernstein,  etc . 

XXXV.— THE  FRENCH  PRESS 497-518 

The  Origin  of  Newspapers — French  Journals — French  Periodi- 
cals. 

APPENDIX 519-523 

The  Forty  Immortals  of  the  French  Academy — Rulers  of 
France. 

BIBLIOGRAPHY 524-529 

INDEX   ,  531-565 


THE   HISTORY 
OF   FRENCH   LITERATURE 


CHAPTER   I 

ORIGINS  OP   THE  FRENCH   LANGUAGE  AND  LITERATURE 

WITH  the  conquest  of  Gaul  by  Caesar  (58-51  B.C.)  there 
began  an  intricate  process  of  evolution  which,  continuing  for 
more  than  nine  centuries,  finally  gave  birth  to  a  French  lan- 
guage and  literature.  The  humble  Sequence  of  St.  Eulalie 
—fragment  of  a  Latin  church  chant— and  the  historical 
Oath  of  Strasburg,  sworn  in  French  by  Louis  the  Ger- 
manic to  make  it  intelligible  to  the  Franks  of  Charles  the 
Bald,  are  but  the  embryo  of  what  that  language  and  literature 
came  to  be.  But  at  the  end  of  the  tenth  century,  when  the 
Capetian  dynasty  began  to  establish  its  sway  and  to  consum- 
mate French  unity,  there  arose  a  French  national  life,  and 
with  it  a  genuine  national  language  and  literature.  In  France, 
as  elsewhere,  poetry  preceded  prose  in  the  infancy  of  let- 
ters; and  we  see  those  poetic  beginnings  in  a  brief  composi- 
tion on  the  Passion  of  Christ,  and  in  the  three  hundred  ver- 
ses of  the  Life  of  St.  Leger,  the  earliest  regularly  versified 
document  in  French.  Our  own  taste  does  not  find  much  to 
admire  in  this  Life.  Yet  in  its  meager  thread  of  narra- 
tion, in  its  simple,  dry  precision — like  to  that  of  a  bare  chron- 
icle—we perceive  the  earliest  strivings  of  that  intense  creative 
power  which  has  produced  French  literature,  and  has  by  no 
means  exhausted  itself  in  a  thousand  pregnant  years  of  pro- 
duction. 

When  their  country  was  reduced  to  the  status  of  a  Roman 
province  by  Caesar,  the  Gauls,  inferior  to  the  Romans  in  civil- 
ization, had  the  Latin  language  imposed  upon  them — just  as 
2  1 


THE    HISTORY    OP    FRENCH    LITERATURE 

French,  by  a  natural  process,  is  forced  upon  the  Arabs  of 
Algeria. 

The  Latin  brought  to  Gaul  by  the  Roman  soldiers  and 
rustic  colonists  was  not  the  classic  tongue  of  Cicero  and  Virgil. 
At  Rome,  as  in  France  to-day,  there  existed  two  languages, 
that  of  the  educated  and  that  of  the  peasant :  the  literary  Latin 
of  writers  and  scholars,  and  the  vulgar  Latin  of  the  people. 
The  popular  Latin  of  the  Gauls,  the  Gallo-Roman,  as  it  was 
called  after  having  supplanted  the  Celtic  and  having  been 
subjected  to  a  strong  influence  from  the  idioms  brought  in 
by  the  Germanic  conquerors,  was  a  language  very  different 
from  the  classic  or  literary  Latin.  It  is  called  Lingua 
Romana1  by  present-day  philologists  in  contradistinction  to 
the  literary  Latin  (sermo  eruditus).  "With  the  Gallo-Roman 
language,  which  was  spoken  but  not  written,  there  was 
evolved  a  sort  of  literary  Latin  written  by  people  more  or  less 
ignorant,  in  which  constant  grammatical  errors  are  apparent. 
This  was  called  the  low  Latin  (bas  latin). 

The  French  language  is  not  a  mixture  of  Gallic  and 
Latin  but  the  popular  Latin  (sermo  plebeius)  introduced  into 
Gaul  by  the  Roman  soldiers,  just  as,  in  the  same  manner,  the 
Roman  language  was  brought  into  the  various  other  provinces 
of  Rome,  suppressing  the  indigenous  dialects  and,  with  vari- 
ous influences  brought  to  bear  upon  it,  evolving  the  Romance 
or  neo-Latin  languages. 

France,  Italy,  and  a  large  part  of  Germany  were  united 
by  Charlemagne.  But  these  three  countries  were  distinct  in 
customs,  ideas,  and  especially  in  language.  So  it  is  not  sur- 
prising that  this  vast  empire,  no  longer  held  together  by  his 
genius,  soon  began  to  fall  apart  under  his  weak  successors. 
Each  of  his  three  grandsons— Charles  the  Bald,  Louis  the 
Germanic,  and  Lothair— took  his  share,  though  only  after 
bloody  fratricidal  wars— thus  bringing  to  pass  for  the  first 
time  the  complete  political  division  of  France,  Germany,  and 
the  contested  land  of  Lotharingia.  The  text  of  the  solemn 
oath  sworn  by  Louis  and  Charles,  at  a  critical  moment  of  the 
conflict,  pledging  them  to  mutual  aid  against  Lothair,  has 

1  Some  of  the  Latin  writers  of  Gaul  were:  Apollinaris  Sidonius,  Trogus 
Pompejus,  and  Sulpicius  Severus. 

2 


ORIGINS    OF    THE    FRENCH   LANGUAGE 

been  preserved.  Aside  from  its  historical  interest,  the  final 
separation  of  France  and  Germany,  it  possesses  a  very  special 
linguistic  value.  It  was  in  March,  842,  that  Louis  swore  the 
oath  in  French,  Charles  in  German,  for  the  understanding 
of  their  respective  armies.  This  document,  which  (not  yet 
French,  but  no  longer  Latin)  invites  the  closest  scrutiny  for 
the  study  it  affords  of  a  language  in  transition,  is  thus  quoted 
by  the  historian,  Nithard :  * 

OATH  OP  Louis  THE  GERMANIC 

OLD  FRENCH  MODERN  FRENCH 

Pro  Deo  amur  et  pro  Christian  Pour  1'amour  de  Dieu  et  pour 
poblo  et  nostro  commun  salva-  le  salut  commun  du  peuple  chre"- 
ment,  d'ist  di  in  avant,  in  quant  tien  et  le  n6tre,  a  partir  de  ce  jour 
Deus  savir  et  podir  me  dunat,  si  autant  que  Dieu  m'en  donne  le 
salvarai  eo  cist  meon  fradre  savoir  et  le  pouvoir,  je  soutien- 
Karlo  et  in  adjudha  et  in  cad-  drai  mon  fr&re  Charles  de  mon 
huna  cosa,  si  cum  om  per  dreit  aide  et  en  toute  chose,  comme  on 
son  fradra  salvar  dift,  in  o  quid  il  doit  justement  soutenir  son  frere, 
mi  altresi  fazet,  et  ab  Ludher  nul  a  condition  qu'il  m'en  fasse 
plaid  nunquam  prindrai,  qui  autant,  et  je  ne  prendrai  jamais 
meon  vol  cist  meon  fradre  Karlo  avec  Lothaire  aucun  arrange- 
in  damno  sit.  ment,  qui,  par  ma  volonte,  soit  au 

detriment    de    mon     dit    frfcre 

Charles. 

English:  For  the  love  of  God  and  for  the  common  salvation 
of  the  Christian  people  and  our  own :  from  this  day  on,  in  so 
far  as  God  give  me  knowledge  and  power,  I  shall  save  (sup- 
port) my  brother  Charles,  by  assistance  and  in  each  thing  (on 
all  occasions),  as  one  ought  by  right  save  his  brother,  in  so 
far  as  he  will  do  the  same  thing  to  me;  and  from  Lothair 
shall  I  never  take  a  pledge  which  may,  by  my  will,  be  a 
damage  to  this  my  brother  Charles. 

The  declaration  of  the  soldiers  of  Charles's  army  furnishes 
another  interesting  document  of  incipient  French  in  its  un- 
settled orthography: 

1  Grandson  of  Charlemagne  and  one  of  the  oldest  French  chroniclers. 

3 


THE    HISTORY   OP    FRENCH   LITERATURE 

OLD  FRENCH  MODERN  FRENCH 

Si   Lodhuwigs  sagrament  que  Si  Louis  tient  le  serment  qu'  & 

son  fradre  Karlo  jurat  conservat,  son  frere  Charles  il  jure  et  Charles 

et   Karlus  meos  sendra  de  sua  mon  seigneur  de  sa  part  ne  le 

part  non  lo  stanit,  si  jo  returnar  tient    pas,    si    je    ne    Ten    puis 

non   lint   pois,   ne  jo,  ne   neuls  de"tourner,  ni  moi  ni  nul  que  j'en 

cui  eo  returnar  int  pois  in  nulla  puisse  detourner,  en  nulle  aide 

adjudha  contra  Ludowig  nun  li  centre  Louis  ne  lui  y  serai, 
iv  er. 

English:  If  Louis  keeps  the  oath  which  he  swears  to  his 
brother  Charles,  and  Charles,  my  lord,  on  his  part,  does  not 
keep  it,  and  if  I  cannot  turn  him  from  it,  neither  I  nor  any 
other  can  turn  him  from  it,  I  shall  give  no  aid  to  him  against 
Louis. 

This  language,  crude  and  imperfect  as  it  still  was,  repre- 
sents a  gradual  evolution  through  nine  centuries.  The  Can- 
tilene  or  Sequence  de  Sainte-Eulalie,  the  oldest  poetic  monu- 
ment of  the  French  (from  a  manuscript  of  the  Convent  Saint 
Armand  in  Valenciennes),  written  only  fifty  years  later, 
already  shows  a  striking  contrast  to  the  Oath,  because  it 
is  entirely  French  in  character,  and  contains  the  fully  de- 
veloped article.  It  speaks  of  the  martyrdom  of  Saint  Eulalie 
of  Merida,  in  304,  who  under  Maximianus,  co-ruler  of  Diocle- 
tian, died  for  her  faith : 

Buona  pulcella  fut  Eulalie 
Bel  avret  corps,  bellezour  anima, 
Voldrent  la  veintre  li  deo  inimi 
Voldrent  la  faire  diaule  servir.1 

But,  as  in  the  various  regions  of  the  vast  Roman  Empire, 
various  languages  were  evolved  from  the  Latin  amongst  the 
different  peoples,  owing  to  the  imperceptible  influence  of 
clime  and  race,  perhaps  even  through  the  subtle  variations 
in  structure  of  the  vocal  organs— so  in  France  a  variety  of 
dialects  found  their  way  from  the  Pyrenees  northward,  and 
from  the  Alps  to  the  sea— each  one  having  points  of  contact 

'A  virtuous  maiden  was  Eulalie,  beautiful  of  mind  and  body  the 
enemies  of  God  wished  to  vanquish  her  and  make  her  serve  the  devil. 


ORIGINS    OF    THE    FRENCH    LANGUAGE 

with,  and  divergences  from,  its  neighbor.  These  dialects  fall 
into  two  general  groups  or  languages— the  langue  d'oc  or 
language  of  Southern  France  usually  designated  as  south  of 
the  Loire,  and  the  langue  d'o'il,  language  of  Northern  France, 
north  of  the  Loire.  Thus  the  original  Roman  province  of 
Gaul,  and  the  large  basin  of  the  Garonne— almost  one  half  of 
France,  in  fact,  did  not  speak  French,  and  did  not  in  the 
Middle  Ages  produce  any  French  literature.  Hence  the  rich 
and  interesting  literary  expressions  of  the  langue  d'oc,  flour- 
ishing though  it  did  on  French  territory,  has  no  place  here; 
only  in  so  far  as  those  productions  exercised  a  marked  influ- 
ence upon  French  literature  proper  are  we  concerned  with 
them.  Beyond  this  they  have  been  afforded  a  separate  liter- 
ary treatment  in  a  succeeding  chapter. 

The  bizarre  names,  oc  and  o'il,  originated  in  a  custom 
of  the  Middle  Ages,  which  designated  languages  by  the  par- 
ticle of  affirmation.  The  people  of  Southern  France  used  oc 
(from  the  Latin  hoc),  and  those  of  Northern  France  o'il  (from 
the  Latin  hoc  ille,  which  was  contracted  into  o'il),  to  express 
"  yes."  Thus  also  the  Italian  was  called  the  language  of  si, 
and  the  German  the  language  of  ja.  Dante  in  his  De  vulgari 
eloquentia  sive  idiomate,  says  that  the  language  of  o'il  puts 
forward  its  claim  to  be  ranked  above  those  of  oc  and  si  (Pro- 
vencal and  Italian). 

The  language  of  the  North,  the  langue  d'o:il,  was  in  the 
eleventh  century  divided  into  five  groups,  or  principal  dia- 
lects, the  boundaries  of  which  were  not  accurately  defined :  the 
dialects  of  the  Northeast,  the  Picard  and  the  Walton;  of 
the  Northwest,  the  Normand;  of  the  East,  the  Bourguignon, 
the  Franc-Comtois,  the  Lorrain,  and  the  Champenois;  of  the 
West,  the  Poitevin,  the  Angevin,  and  the  Saintongeais;  of  the 
Centre  (in  the  lie  de  France)  the  Franc,ais  (French).  Origi- 
nally all  these  dialects  might  have  been  of  equal  standing, 
each  sovereign  in  its  own  domain.  As  a  literary  instrument 
no  one  of  them  was  inherently  superior  to  any  other:  the 
employment  of  a  certain  one  in  a  literary  work  or  document 
might  reveal  simply  the  origin  of  the  writer.  This  equal 
power  and  influence  remained  as  long  as  there  was  no  single 
center  of  Government— no  capital  of  the  nation  to  impose 
upon  the  whole  country  the  need  of  a  paramount  language. 

5 


THE    HISTORY   OF   FRENCH   LITERATURE 

The  dukes  of  Normandy  or  Burgundy,  equal  to  the  Capetian 
Kings,  humble  lords  of  the  lie  de  France,  used  in  their  official 
acts  the  dialects  of  their  respective  provinces. 

But  early  in  the  twelfth  century,  the  petty  kings  of  the 
lie  de  France  began  to  profess  the  doctrine  of  "manifest 
destiny ' '  by  benevolently  assimilating  their  neighbors.  Gradu- 
ally, they  annexed  Berry  (1101),  Picardy  (1200),  Touraine 
(1203),  Normandy  (1204),  and  Champagne  (1361). 1  Into 
these  provinces  they  took  the  dialect  of  the  lie  de  France, 
which  being  the  language  of  kings,  was  presently  adopted  as  a 
model  by  cultivated  society.  Only  the  common  people,  averse 
to  such  invasion,  refused  to  accept  French,  and  clung  to  their 
old  dialects.  Thus  the  dialects  of  Picardy,  Burgundy,  and 
Normandy,  fell  from  their  high  estate  as  the  medium  of  litera- 
ture to  the  lowly  one  of  patois — that  is  to  say,  an  idiom  neither 
written  nor  spoken  by  educated  people,  and  the  end  of  the 
century  found  the  French  dialect  of  the  lie  de  France  pre- 
dominating, strengthened  by  the  definite  establishment  of 
royal  supremacy  over  the  feudal  lords  and  the  fixation  of 
Paris  (owing  to  its  university)  as  the  intellectual  center  of 
the  country.  But  it  was  not  until  the  fourteenth  century, 
when  dialect  after  dialect  had  given  way  to  the  dominant  one 
—the  French  of  the  lie  de  France— that  its  triumph  was  com- 
plete and  the  French  language  took  its  place  in  history.  The 
patois  still  spoken  in  Normandy,  Picardy,  and  Burgundy,  are 
not,  therefore — contrary  to  popular  belief — literary  French 
corrupted  in  the  mouths  of  peasants,  but  simply  the  remnants 
of  the  ancient  provincial  dialects. 

Meanwhile,  at  the  south  of  the  Loire,  the  langue  d'oc  also 
had  become  almost  extinct.  The  terrible  crusade  against  the 
Albigenses  (so  called  from  Albi,  in  Languedoc,  where  the 
antisacerdotal  sects  were  dominant),  was  not  only  a  remark- 
able religious  and  political  occurrence,  but  one  of  great  liter- 
ary significance  as  well.  With  one  stroke  it  carried  the 
French  language  clear  to  the  Pyrenees  and  the  Mediterra- 
nean; for  when  the  Albigenses  (Albigeois)  revolted  against 
the  Church  of  Rome,  they  were  so  vigorously  opposed  that,  as 

1  These  dates  are  not,  of  course,  those  of  final  annexation  to  the  French 
crown. 

6 


ORIGINS    OF    THE    FRENCH   LANGUAGE 

sects,  they  disappeared  in  great  part  at  the  end  of  the  thir- 
teenth century.  A  crusade  against  them  was  preached  by 
Pope  Innocent  III,  in  1208,  and  was  led  by  Arnold  of  Citeaux 
and  Simon  de  Montfort.  This  war  of  extermination,  lasting 
for  several  years,  was  one  of  the  bloodiest  in  history. 

In  1272  Languedoc  was  incorporated  in  France,  and  the 
langue  d'oc  ceased  to  be  written,  and  degenerated  into  patois. 
The  Limousin,  Provencal,  Languedocien,  and  Gascon  patois, 
persisting  to-day  in  the  respective  provinces  of  Southern 
France,  are  merely  the  fragments  of  that  glorious  language 
which  shone  so  bright  at  the  time  of  the  troubadours.  The 
dialect  of  Catalonia  was  nearly  identical  with  the  langue  d'oc 
—a  similarity  so  complete  indeed,  that  Catalonian,  though 
spoken  beyond  the  Pyrenees  assumed  the  name  of  Limousin 
(Lemosi).  The  language  of  the  South  was  more  sonorous 
than  that  of  the  North.  The  very  names  of  the  poets— in  the 
South,  troubadours;  in  the  North,  trouveres  (relating  to  the 
same  French  verb  trouver)  —indicate  the  characteristic  varia- 
tions in  the  two  chief  idioms. 

The  study  of  French  origins  takes  us  into  the  Middle 
Ages.1  To  estimate  aright  their  value  with  respect  to  this 
period,  we  may  profitably  consider  the  opinions  put  forth  by 
the  eminent  Romance  scholar  and  critic,  Gaston  Paris.  "We 
have  outgrown,"  he  says,  "our  attitude  of  disrespect  for  the 
Middle  Ages.  Time  was  when  French  scholarship  sought  its 
sources  only  in  antiquity,  or  from  its  own  more  immediate 
learning;  and  when  the  'Dark  Ages'  were  significant  simply 
as  a  stage  of  transition— essential  to  continuity,  perhaps,  but 
merely  as  a  ring  of  lead  that  binds  two  chains  of  gold.  But 
nowadays,  science  repudiates  no  period  of  history.  "Wherever 
it  finds  facts  and  laws,  it  pauses.  It  holds  that  all  things  that 
have  existed  deserve  its  attention ;  as  far  as  possible,  it  strives 
to  imitate  the  vast  and  serene  impartiality  of  nature." 

During  this  period  of  fermentation  and  social  reconstruc- 
tion, a  new  state  had  sprung  up  by  the  combination  of  Roman, 
German,  and  Christian  institutions.  The  feudal  system  pre- 


1  From  the  Fall  of  the  Roman  Empire,  475,  until  the  capture  of  Con- 
stantinople by  Mahomet  II,  1453,  may  be  conveniently  and  with  reason 
regarded  as  such. 

7 


THE    HISTORY   OP   FRENCH   LITERATURE 

vailed  and  the  two  great  powers  of  western  Europe  were  the 
pope  and  the  emperor. 

In  the  hands  of  Augustin  Thierry  and  his  successors  the 
history  of  the  Middle  Ages  has  become  alive.  These  centuries 
are  an  epoch  essentially  poetic,  that  is  to  say,  everything  is 
spontaneous,  original,  unforeseen.  The  men  of  that  time  do 
not  give  to  reflection  the  place  it  occupies  in  modern  life. 
They  do  not  observe  themselves;  they  live  naively,  like  chil- 
dren with  whom  reflected  life  developed  by  civilization  has 
not  yet  stifled  the  free  expansion  of  natural  vitality.  They 
have  neither  in  the  physical  nor  in  the  social  world  that  idea 
of  prearranged  regularity  which  our  reasoning  power  has 
given  us.  Undoubtedly,  reason  is  the  sovereign  and  ruling 
faculty,  and  its  possession  must  be  the  highest  aim  of  our 
efforts.  But  it  is  not  poetry;  it  is  too  often  its  negation. 
Pure  reason  is  an  elevated  region,  serene  and  cold,  like  those 
grand  summits  where  an  eternal  whiteness  reflects  a  sun  with- 
out clouds;  life,  with  its  forms  and  its  colors,  its  songs  and 
fragrances,  its  powerful  and  joyous  disorder,  is  in  lower 
regions.  The  older  we  grow,  men  or  nations,  the  more  does 
reason  expel  the  imagination  within  us.  A  great  critic  of  our 
days  (Villemain)  has  said,  "There  exists  in  three  fourths  of 
men  a  poet  who  died  young,  and  whom  the  grown  man  sur- 
vives. ' ' 

Taken  as  a  whole  and  compared  with  ours,  life  in  the 
Middle  Ages  appears  eminently  poetic.  Literature  was  the 
image  of  this  life.  It  has  the  same  liberty,  frankness,  variety. 
It  is  not,  like  ours,  hedged  in  by  laws,  restrained  by  preju- 
dices or  proprieties,  or  directed  by  classical  examples ;  nothing 
prevents  it  from  saying  plainly  and  entirely  what  it  wants 
to  say.  Above  all,  it  is  true ;  and  that  is  its  great  merit.  Un- 
preoccupied  with  rules,  theories,  questions  of  form,  it  ex- 
presses simply  the  emotions  of  the  soul,  the  real  sentiments 
and  ideas  of  all.  The  public  accepts  it  as  the  poet  sings  it. 
One  does  not  criticise;  one  does  not  seek  to  discern  whether 
a  poem  is  well  composed,  original,  correct  in  its  versification 
—or  whether  a  play  ("mystery")  conforms  to  the  rules  of 
dramatic  art,  whether  a  farce  is  kept  within  the  limits  of 
good  taste  and  decency.  The  only  question  is  whether  the 
poet  has  made  people  admire,  think,  weep  or  laugh  more  than 


ORIGINS   OF    THE    FRENCH   LANGUAGE 

other  poets;  whether  people  have  been  moved  by  his  produc- 
tions; whether  he  has  left  in  the  soul  the  clear  and  living 
picture  of  his  characters,  the  remembrance  of  his  recitals, 
the  imprint  of  his  sentiments.  The  beliefs,  the  passions,  the 
prejudices  of  the  people  are  reflected  naively  and  without 
coloring  in  this  literature.  There  is  not  yet  arisen  between 
the  learned  and  the  unlearned  that  terrible  distinction— the 
outcome  of  different  instruction— which  to-day  separates  peo- 
ple into  two  classes,  almost  foreign  to  each  other:  a  class 
almost  beyond  the  pale  of  literature,  another  class  that  dis- 
dains and  ignores  all  that  which  does  not  conform  to  the  rules 
set  by  its  doctors.  Neither  in  Greece  nor  in  the  Middle  Ages 
did  this  distinction  exist.  The  same  poetry  pleased  all— the 
prince  as  well  as  the  burgher,  the  knight  as  well  as  the  peas- 
ant. 

All  this,  however,  is  entirely  true  only  of  the  first  period 
of  the  Middle  Ages,  the  period  almost  wholly  consecrated 
to  the  epic.  We  do  not  speak  here  of  the  clerics,  of  those  who 
knew  Latin,  and  who  wrote  and  spoke  it  among  themselves. 
These  remained  without  influence  upon  popular  poetry,  which 
they  despised.  The  fusion  of  their  science  with  the  popular 
language  and  poetry  occurring,  almost  simultaneously  in 
France  and  in  Italy  toward  the  end  of  the  thirteenth  century 
marks  the  beginning  of  a  new  period.  But  from  the  second 
half  of  the  twelfth  century  to  the  end  of  the  thirteenth 
century,  there  is  a  tendency  to  a  separation  analogous  to  that 
of  the  learned  and  unlettered.  Then  arises,  by  a  natural  and 
ordinary  process,  that  more  restrained  society  which  seeks 
to  distinguish  itself  from  the  rest  by  the  elegance  of  its  life, 
the  refinement  of  its  customs,  the  conventional  politeness  of 
its  manners.  This  elite  is  grouped  naturally  at  the  courts  of 
the  kings  and  princes;  the  term  courtesy  (courtoisie)  is  em- 
ployed to  designate  its  ideal.  From  that  time  on  men  are 
divided  into  two  classes— the  polite  world  and  the  vilains:1 
those  who  make  up  elegant  society,  who  know  its  usages,  share 
its  ideas ;  and  those  who  are  excluded  from  it,  and  are  ignorant 
of  its  refinements. 

In  this  formation  of  a  polite  society  the  important  role 

1  Vilain  was  used  for  rustic  (noun). 
9 


THE    HISTORY   OF   FRENCH   LITERATURE 

belongs  to  the  women.  They  introduce  superficially  at  least, 
if  not  really,  into  the  manners  a  certain  sweetness  and  urban- 
ity, and  infuse  the  rude  and  narrow  bravery  of  the  feudal 
lord  with  the  sentiment  of  galanterie.  The  tournaments  are 
changed  into  gallant  feasts  over  which  the  women  preside, 
or  they  replace  by  social  games  and  pleasures  the  too  virile 
amusements  of  the  eleventh  century.  Thus  inspired,  the 
rude  barons  who  knew  only  the  chase  and  war  are  trans- 
formed into  the  gallant  knights  of  the  time  of  St.  Louis 
(1226-1270)— knights  who  pass  a  part  of  their  lives  in  feast- 
ing and  assemblies,  who  vie  with  each  other  in  the  richness 
of  their  costume,  in  luxurious  modes  of  living,  who  carry 
proudly  on  their  helmets,  when  going  to  battle,  the  symbol 
of  their  lady's  love.  This  incessant  influence  refines,  en- 
nobles, purifies,  and  perhaps  also  weakens,  character.  The 
virtues  and  graces  of  this  chivalrous  society  have  been  singu- 
larly exaggerated;  but  it  has  done  much  for  our  education, 
and,  in  developing  its  traditions,  France,  its  true  fatherland, 
has  become  and  remained  the  most  social  and  polite  nation 
of  Europe.  This  new  world  needed  a  poetry  distinct  from 
that  of  the  people,  a  poetry  courtly  as  the  society  for  which 
it  was  destined.  And  this  poetry  appeared,  on  the  one  hand, 
in  the  versified  romances  of  the  Round  Table,1  and,  on  the 
other,  in  the  greatest  lyric  works  of  the  Middle  Ages. 

In  the  primitive  times  of  all  countries,  poetry  is  anony- 
mous ;  it  belongs  to  no  one  in  particular,  and  the  entire  people 
take  part  and  reflect  themselves  in  it.  In  the  eleventh  and 
twelfth  centuries,  before  the  separation  of  the  courtly  and 
vilains,  before  the  creation  of  an  artificial  literature,  when  the 
jongleurs  (troubadours;  Greek:  rhapsodes),  loved  and  under- 
stood equally  by  all,  were  the  sole  historians,  the  sole  poets 
and  scholars,  the  Middle  Ages  found  expression  in  their  great- 
est power  and  variety.  Even  later,  in  spite  of  the  separation 
of  the  people  in  two  classes,  in  spite  of  the  introduction  of 
popular  literature,  there  lived  a  poetry  which  addressed  itself 
to  the  whole  nation :  the  poetry  of  the  theater.  In  the  four- 

1  This  will  be  treated  later  in  detail.  In  Arthurian  legend  the  table  was 
made  by  the  magician  Merlin  for  Uther  Pendragon,  who  gave  it  to  the 
father  of  Guinevre,  from  whom,  in  turn,  Arthur  received  it,  together  with 
one  hundred  knights,  as  a  wedding  gift. 

10 


ORIGINS    OF    THE    FRENCH   LANGUAGE 

teenth  and  fifteenth  centuries  the  mystery  plays  were  what 
the  epic  songs  had  been  before  them.  Their  exclusively 
religious  subjects  gave  them  equal  rights  and  claims  to  the 
sympathy  and  respect  of  all,  and  in  spite  of  their  slight 
literary  value,  they  are  one  of  the  most  original  and  power- 
ful creations  of  the  middle  ages ;  and  if  the  individual  drama 
has  been  substituted  for  these  great  national  representations, 
these  logically  and  spontaneously  developed  mysteries  have 
inspired  some  of  the  religious  plays  and  autos  by  Calderon,1 
and  the  historical  plays  by  Shakespeare.  So  the  poetry  of 
the  Middle  Ages,  in  its  principal  aspects,  was  epic,  lyric,  and 
dramatic. 

But  all  these  branches  of  French  literature  during  the 
Middle  Ages  vary  according  to  the  differences  of  spirit  of  all 
the  stages  of  society  that  participate  in  them,  and  especially 
according  to  the  local  and  racial  characteristics  of  the  terri- 
tories from  which  they  spring.  Gustave  Lanson,  the  admir- 
able literary  historian  of  France,  says  that ' '  each  one  of  those 
regions  furnishes  its  part  in  the  literature  of  the  Middle 
Ages.  Normandy  and  France  proper  apply  themselves  to  the 
editing  of  their  chansons  de  geste  ('songs  of  heroic  deeds'), 
as  Burgundy  in  its  century  of  separate  existence  creates  an 
epic  of  its  own.  In  Champagne  bloom  romance,  lyrical  ideal- 
ism, and  personal  memoirs.  The  noisy  communes  of  Picardy 
rejoice  in  dramatic  poetry.  Paris  is  the  center :  she  produces 
all,  avails  herself  of  all;  everything  flows  to  her.  Rutebeuf 
leaves  his  Champagne,  Jean  de  Meung  his  Orleanais,  and  both 
transfer  their  great  talents  to  the  capital.  Then,  during 
long  centuries,  the  provinces,  one  by  one,  as  they  enter  upon 
national  unity,  receive  the  one  French  language,  and  mingle 
their  original  genius  with  its  central  spirit :  crude  and  dreamy 
Brittany,  reinfusing  French  literature  with  Celtic  melan- 
choly ;  inflexible  and  reasoning  Auvergne ;  Lyons,  mystic  and 
passionate  city  despite  the  superficial  agitation  of  material 
interests;  the  entire  South,  so  varied  and  so  rich,  in  one 
place  more  Roman,  in  another  still  marked  by  the  passage  of 
the  Arabs  or  the  Moors,  preserving  under  all  the  alluvial 

1  Pedro  Calderon  de  la  Barca  (Madrid,  1600-81),  one  of  the  most  cele- 
brated of  the  Spanish  dramatists  and  poets. 

11 


THE    HISTORY    OF    FRENCH    LITERATURE 

strata  with  which  history  has  successively  covered  it,  its 
primitive  layer  of  Iberian  population ;  hot  and  vibrating  Pro- 
vence, all  charm  or  all  fire;  Gascony,  scintillating  with  vivac- 
ity, light  and  delicate;  and  strong  and  powerful  Languedoc, 
perhaps  the  one  country  of  France  where  forms  and  tones 
of  poetry  are  best  felt  in  their  special  beauty.  * ' 


CHAPTER   II 

EPICS 

EPIC  poetry— "poetic  narrative  which  precedes  the  ages 
when  history  is  written ' ' — is,  in  the  natural  order  of  develop- 
ment as  admitted  by  most  critics,  posterior  to  lyric  and  an- 
terior to  dramatic  poetry.  The  first  form  of  song  was  the 
hymn  originating  with  the  ceremonies  of  the  sanctuary. 
Then  men  turned  to  the  description  of  nature,  of  love,  of 
death,  and  this  poetry  usually  sung  to  the  accompaniment  of 
the  lyre,  was  called  lyrical  poetry.  The  epic  was  born  when 
men  began  to  narrate  the  lives  of  their  heroes  and  to  sing 
their  praises. 

The  beginnings  of  the  national  epics  are  lost  in  the  pre- 
historic times  of  nations l  and  the  true  epic  is  first  found  with 
the  peoples  of  the  Aryan  race.  The  source  of  the  epic  is  the 
oral  transmission  of  the  national  history  of  a  people,  usually 
centered  around  one  personage  in  the  time  when  the  military 
nobility  was  considered  the  flower  of  humanity.  This  oral 
information  of  the  historical  facts,  at  first  legendarized,  then 
greatly  exaggerated,  finally  became  fantastic  and  was  per- 
petuated in  writing.  Thus  arose  the  Homeric  Iliad  and 
Odyssey  of  Greece,  the  Mdkabhdrata  and  the  Ramdyana  of 
Jndia,  the  Nibelungen  of  Germany,  the  Poema  del  Cid  of 
Spain,  and  the  Chanson  de  Roland,  the  greatest  of  French 
epics,  in  France. 

Pio  Rajna,  an  Italian  scholar,  has  established  the  Germanic 
origin  of  the  French  epic:  "  romane  dans  son  developpement, 

1  The  triumph  song  of  Deborah  (1300  B.C.)  and  the  twelve  adventures 
of  the  Shimshon  (Samson)  saga  show  traces  of  epic  songs.  Pentaur,  poet 
and  priest  of  the  court  of  Egypt,  sang  the  heroic  deeds  of  King  Rameses 
II  in  the  Battle  of  Kadish  (twelfth  century  B.C.).  Schi-King  is  a  collection 
of  heroic  songs  of  the  Chinese  collected  by  Confucius  (sixth  century  B.C.). 

13 


THE    HISTORY   OF    FRENCH   LITERATURE 

elle  etait  germaine  dans  son  origine."  All  the  nations  who 
inhabited  Gaul  from  the  sixth  to  the  seventh  centuries  con- 
tributed something  toward  the  future  French  epic :  the 
Celts,  however,  only  furnished  the  characteristics  of  some  of 
its  heroes,  the  Romans  gave  the  epic  its  form  in  language 
(vulgar  Latin)  and  in  versification,  the  church  gave  its  faith, 
but  the  Germanic  tribes  brought  the  greatest  influence  to 
bear,  for  it  is  owing  to  them  that  the  epic  was  born  in  France. 
When  these  tribes  invaded  Gaul  they  introduced  their  custom, 
inherent  with  them  for  several  centuries,  of  singing  in  pop- 
ular verse  their  origins,  their  victories,  their  gods,  and  their 
heroes,1  and  they  did  not  lose  their  taste  for  these  epic  recitals 
which  exalt  courage  and  charm  the  imagination,  but  com- 
municated them  to  the  Gallo-Romans.  Their  ideas  of  war, 
of  royalty,  of  government,  of  family,  of  woman  and  of  law, 
then  entered  the  French  national  poetry  and  gave  it  the  epic 
form,  triumphing  over  the  popular  songs  of  lyrical  and  nar- 
rative character,  sung  by  the  Gallo-Romans.  These  popular 
songs  were  called  Cantilenes  and  were  sung  both  in  the  old 
German2  of  which  an  example  is  the  Cantilene  Saucourt 
(ninth  century) ;  and  in  the  vulgar  Latin  or  Gallo-Roman 
(Lingua  Romana),  as  the  Cantilene  de  Sainte  Eulalie  (ninth 
century)  which  was  the  first  monument  of  French  national 
poetry. 

Epic  composition  on  the  soil  of  France  may  run  back  for 
its  origins  to  the  poetic  history  of  the  Merovingians,  where 
traces  of  old  French  poems  may  be  found;  in  the  chansons 
de  geste,  certain  recitals,  certain  personages,  moral  traits, 
customs  civil  and  military,  are  the  manifest  residuum  of  the 
most  ancient  poetry  and  the  most  ancient  civilization  of 
France.  In  the  fifth  century,  songs  on  Clovis  were  probably 
sung,  and  in  the  sixth,  seventh,  and  eighth  centuries  poems  on 
Dagobert,  Charles  Martel  and  Pepin  le  Bref  may  have  ex- 
isted. Of  particular  interest  is  the  epic  of  Floovant 8  taken 

1  Tacitus  (first  century),  in  his  history  of  the  Germans,  states  that  the 
Germans  had  an  epic  poetry  whose  hero  was  Sigofred. 

1  The  Ludwigslied  is  supposed  to  be  the  last  type  of  cantilene  sung  in 
German  on  French  soil. 

» Published  by  Michelant  and  Guessard:  Les  anciens  poetes  de  la 
France. 

14 


EPICS 

from  a  chronicle  of  the  eighth  century,  the  Gesta  Dagoberti, 
and  which  tells  that  Floovant  is  really  Dagobert,  the  name 
Floovant  signifying  "descendant  of  Clovis."  But  of  this 
period  there  is  little  preserved,  and  of  the  fragments  which 
remain  it  is  difficult  to  define  their  characteristics.  There  is 
a  tradition  that  Charlemagne  caused  the  epic  treasures  to  be 
collected,  and  that  his  ascetic  son,  Louis  the  Pious  (814-40), 
who  had  been  coerced  in  his  childhood  to  learn  them  by  heart, 
had  no  sooner  ascended  the  throne  than  he  ordered  them  all 
destroyed— by  way  of  compensation  for  the  ennui  he  had 
suffered  in  memorizing  them.  However  this  may  be,  nearly 
all  have  melted  from  sight  with  the  snows. 

During  several  centuries  these  national  and  religious 
poems  were  orally  transmitted  from  generation  to  generation 
until  Charlemagne  became  the  principal  hero,  his  legend 
absorbing  all  others,  and  in  the  tenth  century  was  born  the 
chanson  de  geste  of  truly  French  character.  A  number  of 
these  chansons  de  geste  were  inspired  by  the  oral  traditions 
circulating  during  the  Merovingian  period,  others  were  in- 
spired by  the  old  Cantilenes.  ' '  Our  chansons  de  geste,  there- 
fore, ' '  says  Leon  Gautier,  ' '  are  military  and  not  clerical,  and 
owe  nothing  to  certain  Latin  chronicles  from  which  it  is 
believed  by  some  they  have  arisen."  He  tells  us  that  the 
Chronique  de  Turpin  is  posterior  to  the  first  chansons  de 
geste.  ' '  The  Chronique  de  Turpin  and  most  of  the  analogous 
legends  are  the  works  of  some  rhetorician  of  the  monasteries 
who  copied  without  intelligence  and  without  animation  our 
first  chansons  de  geste."  F.  Scholle,  also  asserts  that  the 
poems  had  for  a  long  time  been  preserved  by  oral  tradition 
before  having  been  written,  and  that  the  various  readings  of 
the  different  compilations  are  due  partly  to  the  intervention 
of  the  jongleurs  and  not  solely  to  the  copyists. 

According  to  Marius  Sepet  there  was  a  transition  between 
the  cantilene  and  the  chanson  de  geste — the  chanson  epique — 
of  which  the  Vie  de  Saint  Alexis  gives  an  exact  idea. 

The  cantilene  was  a  short  popular  song  sung  by  the  peo- 
ple, whereas  the  chanson  de  geste  was  developed  principally 
among  the  nobility  which  was  also  the  warrior  class.  From 
this  class  were  drawn  chiefly  the  trouveres,  many  of  whom 
composed  and  sang  their  own  songs.  As  a  rule,  however,  the 

15 


THE    HISTORY   OF    FRENCH   LITERATURE 

songs  composed  by  the  trouveres  were  sung  by  a  special  class 
of  singers,  heritage  of  the  scopas  (of  the  Francs)  and  who 
were  called  in  French  joglers  (joculares)  or  jogledors  (jocu- 
latores),  later  jougleors,  jongleurs  (jongleurs  being  an  en- 
tirely modern  form).  It  was  the  jongleur  who  sang  the 
poems  of  fame,  generally  to  the  accompaniment  of  the  viola 
(vielle).  He  went  from  court  to  court,  from  castle  to  castle 
to  sing  them  as  the  scopa  had  done. 

Edgar  Quinet,  philosopher,  poet,  and  historian,  has  told 
us  how  the  epics  were  composed  and  put  forth  by  the  medieval 
French  rhapsode.  For  six  dreary  winter  months  the  feudal 
castle  has  remained  enveloped  in  clouds.  There  have  been  no 
tournaments,  no  war,  few  strangers  and  pilgrims,  to  break 
the  monotony  of  the  days;  the  sad,  interminable  evenings 
are  poorly  filled  by  the  game  of  chess.  With  the  swallows  the 
return  of  the  trouvere  is  awaited.  On  a  fine  day  in  May  he 
sends  forth  his  jongleurs  to  recite  his  poems  to  the  burghers 
and  the  common  people  in  the  little  towns  of  the  interior. 
Presently  he  himself  is  seen  following  the  escarpement  leading 
to  the  castle.  Without  delay,  from  the  evening  of  his  arrival, 
the  barons,  squires,  and  ladies  assemble  in  the  great  paved 
hall  to  hear  the  poem  he  has  composed  during  the  winter. 
The  minstrel  does  not  read  his  poem — he  recites  it ;  and  now 
and  again,  in  impassioned  passages,  he  lifts  his  voice  in  song, 
to  the  accompaniment  of  harp  or  fiddle.  His  bearing  is 
proud,  yet  of  ingenuous  frankness.  Observe  the  complexion 
of  his  audience : 

"  Seigneurs,  or  f aites  paix,  chevaliers  et  barons, 
Et  roi  et  dues,  et  comtes  et  princes  de  renoms; 
Et  prelats,  et  bourgeois,  gens  de  religion, 
Dames  et  demoiselles,  et  petits  enfangons.1 " 

In  some  cases  he  has  composed  his  song  by  order  of  the 
lord  who  has  lent  him  the  chronicle  containing  the  tradition 
he  embellishes.  The  ancestors  of  his  host  figure  therein. 
Neighboring  places— little  towns,  the  forts,  castles,  and  mon- 

1  Lords,  hold  your  peace,  chevaliers  and  barons,  and  king,  and  dukes, 
and  counts,  and  princes  of  renown,  and  prelates,  and  bourgeois,  and  men 
of  religion,  matrons  and  maidens  and  little  children. 

16 


EPICS 

asteries,  are  named.  The  name  of  France  is  never  pro- 
nounced without  qualification:  it  is  sweet,  pleasant,  praised 
or  honored  France.  The  minstrel  speaks  to  his  auditors  of 
what  they  know  and  love  the  best— of  tournaments  and  of 
battles.  In  the  virtues  he  ascribes  to  his  heroes  there  is  little 
variety,  but  his  terms  are  striking  and  energetic.  ' '  Proud  of 
thought,"  "brave  as  a  lion,"  "after  the  fashion  of  a  proud 
man, ' '  are  phrases  oft  recurring.  He  sings  of  the  great  deeds 
of  Oliver,  who,  wounded  to  death,  arises  from  his  bed  to 
defy  the  Saracen  chief;  of  the  horse  Bayard,  which  the 
squires  bleed  to  drink  its  blood  while  beset  by  famine  in  the 
castle  of  Renaud ;  of  the  conquest  of  Barbastre,  or  the  battle 
of  Alichamp — both  episodes  in  the  Carlovingian  cycle  of 
epics ;  of  the  coming  of  the  Emir 's  daughter  to  the  prison  of 
the  knights;  of  Charlemagne's  complaint  upon  hearing  the 
horn  of  Roland.  Often  the  poet  is  powerless  to  regulate  the 
disorder  of  confused  traditions :  he  falls  back  on  the  exclama- 
tion, "  Oyez  seigneurs!  "  ("  Listen,  my  lords!  ") 

In  those  warlike  assemblies  the  voice  of  the  minstrel  rang 
like  sword  on  shield  in  a  tournament,  and  was  echoed  sonor- 
ously by  the  objects  about  him.  The  battlements  of  the  castle, 
the  wind  blowing  through  the  halls,  the  signals  from  the 
watch  towers,  the  clattering  chains  of  the  drawbridges— all 
these  are  in  some  measure  a  part  of  his  poem.  What  he 
does  not  say,  the  surroundings  and  the  memories  of  the  audi- 
tors supply.  With  the  coming  of  autumn  the  minstrel's  song 
is  over;  he  departs,  laden  with  gifts  of  precious  vestments, 
fine  weapons,  horses  with  elaborate  trappings.  If  not  already 
a  knight,  he  is,  perhaps,  made  one.  Then,  in  his  absence,  the 
life  of  the  manor  loses  its  expression,  and  relapses  into  silence 
and  monotony. 

In  the  eleventh  and  twelfth  centuries  the  jongleur's  pro- 
fession was  ennobling,  even  heroic.  He  followed  the  armies, 
aroused  them  to  battle — perhaps  took  a  brave  part  in  it  him- 
self. We  have  noted  that  one  such  jongleur,  Taillefer  by 
name,  was  present  at  the  battle  of  Hastings,  and  sang  to  the 
Normans  the  epic  of  Roncesvalle  (from  the  Roman  de  Ron 
by  Wace,  oldest  poet  of  the  Breton  Cycle)  : 


17 


THE    HISTORY   OF   FRENCH   LITERATURE 

"Taillefer  qui  mult  bien  chantout 
Sur  un  cheval  qui  tost  alout 
Devant  le  due  alout  cantant 
De  Charlemaine  et  de  Reliant 
Et  d 'Olivier  et  des  vasalles 
Qui  mururent  a  Renchesvals."1 

But  the  jongleur  did  not  remain  long  on  the  height.  As 
poetic  inspiration  waned,  he  himself  sank.  In  the  forefront 
of  the  armies,  at  the  courts  of  kings,  in  the  service  of  the 
great  lords,  he  rode  gaily  a  good  horse.  But  in  the  fourteenth 
century  he  fares  afoot,  in  shabby  but  gaudy  attire,  carrying 
his  fiddle  on  his  back,  and  stopping  at  public  places  to  draw 
an  audience.  He  would  play  a  prelude,  sing  a  popular  song 
—and  pass  the  plate.  Reduced  to  such  shifts,  he  is  presently 
confounded  with  clowns,  with  the  owners  of  dancing  bears, 
with  sword  swallowers.  From  the  exigencies  of  his  plight 
we  have  derived  a  slang  phrase,  payer  en  monnaie  de  singe 
(to  pay  in  monkey  coin) ;  for,  lacking  the  wherewithal  for 
bridge  tolls,  he  was  constrained  to  ' '  cut  a  monkey  shine, ' '  and 
so  pass  on.  In  the  fifteenth  century  his  misery  became  ex- 
treme, his  reputation  detestable.  But  in  high  and  low  estate 
he  was  the  needed  interpreter  of  that  poetry  which  he  helped 
to  foster,  and  which  replaced  for  the  people  both  reading 
and  theater. 

According  to  Gaston  Paris,  the  jongleurs  have  played  an 
important  role  in  the  development  of  the  French  epic  which 
finally  comprised  an  immense  epic  material,  and  which  toward 
the  middle  of  the  eleventh  century  spun  itself  out  into  long 
poems  and  later  was  divided  into  cycles.  Leon  Gautier's  def- 
inition of  a  cycle  is  a  number  of  popular  poets  grouped 
around  a  hero  or  an  important  event  which  becomes  the  sub- 
ject of  their  poems.  Joseph  Bedier  tells  us  in  his  famous 
Legendes  epiques,  how  the  trouveres  of  the  thirteenth  century 
distributed  all  their  epic  poems  (the  hundred  chansons  de 
geste  which  have  been  preserved  and  many  others  which  have 
been  lost)  into  three  cycles: 

1  Taillefer,  the  great  singer,  on  a  swift  horse,  before  the  duke  went 
singing  of  Charlemagne  and  of  Roland  and  of  Oliver  and  the  vassals  who 
died  at  Roncesvalle. 

18 


EPICS 

N'ot  que  trois  gestes  en  France  la  garnie: 

Du  rois  de  France  est  la  plus  seignorie, 

Et  1'autre  apres,  bien    est  droiz  que  gel  die 

Est  de  Doon  a  la  barbe  florie  .  .  . 

La  tierce  geste  qui  molt  fist  a  proisier 

Fu  de  Garin  de  Monglane  le  fier.     (GIKART  DE  VIANE.)  l 

These  three  groups  are :  First,  the  Royal  Cycle  consecrated 
to  the  legend  of  Charlemagne  and  to  the  national  wars,  of 
which  the  greatest  poem  is  the  Chanson  de  Roland.  In  this 
cycle  Gaston  Paris  also  places  the  poems  relating  to  the  Mero- 
vingians: Floovant,  the  most  ancient;  Les  Saisnes;  Le  Pele- 
rinage  de  Charlemagne  (poem  of  the  eleventh  century)  ; 
and  Le  Roi  Louis,  a  beautiful  poem  of  the  eleventh  century 
and  of  which  only  a  fragment  of  six  hundred  verses  has  been 
preserved.  Second,  the  Cycle  of  Doon  de  Mayence,  the  center 
of  which  is  Renaud  de  Montauban,2  and  which  is  consecrated 
to  the  wars  of  the  barons  among  themselves  or  against  Char- 
lemagne. The  principal  poems  of  this  group  are  Doon  de 
Mayence,  Les  quatre  fils  Aimon  from  the  ancient  version  of 
Renaud  de  Montauban  (twelfth  century).  Third,  the  Cycle 
of  Garin  de  Monglane,  composed  of  twenty-four  romances 
of  which  William  of  Orange 3  is  the  principal  hero  and  which 
tells  of  the  wars  of  the  Provengals  against  the  Saracens. 
Among  these  are:  La  Chanson  d'Aliscans,  Girart  de  Viane,  Le 
Roman  de  Garin  de  Monglane.  It  is  said  that  the  trouveres 
having  divided  the  epic  legends  into  three  cycles,  also  estab- 
lished a  mystical  relation  between  the  three  chiefs  of  these 
three  cycles:  Charlemagne,  Doon  de  Mayence,  Garin  de  Mon- 
glane >vere  born  on  the  same  day,  at  the  same  hour,  in  the 
midst  of  miracles. 

1  There  are  but  three  gestes  in  rich  France; 
That  of  the  King  of  France  is  the  most  esteemed, 
And  the  next,  'tis  but  right  I  should  say  so, 
Is  that  of  Doon  with  the  white  beard  .  .  . 
The  third  geste  in  which  there  is  much  to  praise 
Is  that  of  proud  Garin  de  Monglane. 

2  According  to  some  authorities  Ogier  le  Danois  is  the  central  figure  of 
this  cycle. 

3  A  manuscript  in  Boulogne  contains  about  a  dozen  compositions  with 
the  title,  Li  Roumans  de  Guillaume  d'Orange. 

19 


With  the  great  cycles  a  number  of  small  cycles  originated 
in  the  provinces  of  France,  such  as  the  bloody  and  savage 
Cycle  of  the  Lorrains,  the  cycle  of  hatred  and  private  feuds ; 
the  Cycle  of  Girart  de  Roussillon ;  the  Cycle  of  Aubri  de  Bour- 
going  and  that  of  Raoul  de  Cambrai.  Each  of  these  cycles 
was  independent  of  the  other  and  not  one,  says  Leon  Gautier 
could  be  reasonably  attached  to  any  of  the  great  cycles,  yet 
owing  to  a  sort  of  "cyclical  monomania,"  the  trouveres  at- 
tached them  to  the  three  great  cycles. 

The  most  famous  of  the  great  epic  narratives  transmitted 
to  us  in  literary  form  is  the  Chanson  de  Roland,  which,  in  the 
form  afforded  us  by  the  Oxford  manuscript,  precedes  the 
year  1080  A.D.1  The  episode  on  which  was  wrought  the  Chan- 
son de  Roland s  seemed  in  its  actuality  so  trivial  to  the 
historians3  of  Charlemagne's  reign  that  they  but  briefly 
recorded  it.  The  Caliphate  of  Cordova  in  Spain  had  been 
dismembered,  and  one  of  the  warring  Moorish  chiefs  who 
had  shared  in  its  partition,  invoked  the  aid  of  Charlemagne 
against  the  Emir.  A  French  army  descended  upon  Spain,  pos- 
sessed Pamplona,  and  approached  Saragossa.  Then  Charles, 
having  secured  hostages  from  the  Emir,  and  being  threat- 
ened by  an  uprising  of  the  Saracens,  deemed  it  wise  to  return. 
He  passed  the  Pyrenees  in  safety  with  the  bulk  of  his  army ; 
but  the  Basques  fell  upon  the  rear  guard  at  Roncevaux — a 
trap  into  which  Charles  had  foolishly  led  them — and  his 
nephew,  Roland,4  in  command,  perished  there  on  the  15th 
of  August,  in  the  year  778.  On  such  a  slight  structure  of  fact 
was  erected  the  greatest  epic  of  France. 

It  is  certain  that  the  Chanson  de  Roland,  as  we  possess  it, 
was  not  derived  directly  from  the  original  popular  forms,  but 
is  a  growth  and  an  elaboration  from  the  great  body  of  epic 
songs  produced  in  the  primitive  period  of  spontaneous  inven- 
tion. In  its  oldest  written  form  it  represents,  at  the  least,  a 

1  There  are  eight  manuscripts  of  the  Chanson  de  Roland,  of  which 
those  of  Oxford  and  of  the  Library  of  St.  Mark  in  Venice  are  the  oldest. 

2  The  Chanson  de  Roland  was  translated  in  all  European  languages; 
there  is  even  an  Icelandic  version. 

3  The  historical  facts  of  this  poem,  which  are  very  meager,  are  given  by 
Eginhard,  historian  of  Charlemagne  (Eginhardi  Vita  Caroli  Magni  IX). 

*  Historically,  Roland  was  not  Charlemagne's  nephew. 

20 


EPICS 

second  or  third  stage  of  the  legend.  Gaston  Paris  writes  of 
it :  "  The  last  adapter  of  the  poem,  whom  we  may  place  about 
1080,  has  fashioned  a  poem  in  which  contradictions  and  ob- 
scurities are  not  lacking,  but  which  is  presented  on  the  whole 
with  a  certain  unity  and  an  incontestable  grandeur.  It  is  the 
dominant  work  of  the  French  Middle  Ages:  it  sums  up  their 
highest  ideal,  it  presents  their  most  powerful  effort,  it  trans- 
mits to  posterity  all  that  was  most  vital  and  lasting  in  those 
times— patriotism,  honor,  and  duty— and  it  deserves  to  re- 
main always  for  France  a  truly  national  work.  It  is  the 
most  perfect  flower  in  that  fruitful  field  of  poetry,  blooming 
in  the  heroic  age  of  France,  which  we  call  chansons  de  geste 
— songs  woven  around  the  facts,  or  the  reputed  facts,  of 
history.1  It  seems  probable  that  all  the  poems  of  this  kind  are 
a  sort  of  vulgar  development  of  much  shorter  songs— like  to 
those  which  Germania's  warlike  tribes  consecrated  to  the 
glory  of  their  heroes. 

This  Chanson  de  Roland,  though  it  belongs  in  its  present 
form  to  the  last  third  of  the  twelfth  century,  was  discovered 
in  an  Oxford  manuscript  by  Francisque  Michel  as  late  as 
1836.  According  to  some  authorities  its  author  was  a  Norman 
who  lived  in  England,  Touroude  or  Theroulde,  mentioned 
in  the  last  verse  of  the  epic :  ' '  Ci  fait  la  geste  que  Turoldus 
declinet."  (This  is  the  geste  which  Turoldus  ends.)  Leon 
Gautier  asserts  that  one  may  interpret  this  sentence  in  three 
ways:  A  poet  who  has  finished  his  poem;  a  scribe  who  has 
finished  copying  it;  a  jongleur  who  has  finished  relating  it; 
and  therefore  it  were  better  to  regard  the  Chanson  de  Roland 
as  an  anonymous  poem.  There  are  4,002  verses,  in  all, 
divided  into  five  parts.  The  first  part  is  concerned  with  the 
embassy  of  the  Saracen  King,  Marsile,  to  Charlemagne,  and 
the  treason  of  Ganelon,  Charlemagne's  vassal.  In  the  second, 
acting  on  the  pledge  of  Marsile  and  the  good  faith  of  Ganelon, 
Charles  leaves  Spain,  where  he  had  been  at  war  for  a  long 
time.  Roland,  his  nephew,  commands  the  rear  guard,  and 
is  accompanied  by  Olivier  and  the  Bishop  Turpin.  The  third 
part,  and  the  most  beautiful,  discloses  Roland  passing  through 

1  Geste  (from  the  Latin  neuter  plural,  gesta,  which  becomes  in  French  a 
feminine  substantive)  was  used  in  the  sense  of  "history."  Later  on,  une 
geste  came  to  mean  in  French  an  epic  poem. 

21 


THE    HISTORY   OF   FRENCH   LITERATURE 

the  gorge  of  Roncevaux,  where,  in  violation  of  the  Saracen 
oath,  he  is  attacked,  and  defends  himself  heroically.  In  the 
fourth  division  the  Emperor,  who  has  heard  too  late  the 
despairing  blast  of  Roland's  horn,  returns  to  the  scene  of 
carnage,  smites  the  Saracens,  and  gathers  the  bodies  of  his 
dead.  In  the  last  scene  of  all — the  traitor  Ganelon  is  caught 
and  put  to  death. 

Of  all  the  episodes  of  the  Chanson  that  of  the  death  of 
Roland  *  is  the  most  pathetic.  The  dying  hero  laments  the 
fate  of  ' '  Durandal, ' '  his  sword,  which  must  not  fall  into  the 
hands  of  the  enemy,  or  of  some  coward.  As  if  it  were  a  living 
thing,  he  reminds  it  of  exploits  performed,  and  of  the  holy 
relics  in  its  golden  sheath.  But  death  is  creeping  to  his  heart ; 
he  lies  down,  face  upturned,  his  sword,  and  his  horn  "  Oli- 
phant  " 2  under  him.  He  prays  that  God  will  forgive  him  his 
sins ;  and,  with  conscience  eased,  sweet  memories  come  to  him : 

De  dulce  France,  des  humes  de  sun  lign, 

De  Charlemagne,  sun  seigneur,  qui  le  nourrit.1 

Again  imploring  the  divine  grace,  with  his  right  hand  he 
extends  his  glove  toward  God,  as  a  sign  of  chivalrous  faith; 
and  it  is  taken  by  St.  Gabriel.  Then,  reclining  his  head  on 
his  arm,  "with  folded  hands  he  went  to  his  end"  ("jointes 
ses  mains  est  alets  a  sa  fin").  Finally,  God  sends  his  angels, 
who  convey  the  count's  soul  to  Paradise.  The  pathos  and 
simplicity  in  the  poem  on  Aude's  death  is  striking: 

MORT  D'AUDE 
(Modern  French  translation) 

L'Empereur  est  revenu  d'Espagne: 

II  vient  a  Aix,  la  meilleure  ville  de  France. 

1  The  phrase  "  to  give  a  Roland  for  an  Oliver "  (a  blow  for  a  blow) 
comes  from  the  legend  which  tells  that  Roland  fought  for  five  days  with 
Oliver,  but  as  they  were  equally  matched,  neither  was  victorious. 

1  The  sword  and  horn  which  tradition  says  Roland  won  from  the  giant 
Jutmundus. 

s  Of  sweet  France,  the  men  of  his  race,  of  Charlemagne,  his  lord  who 
brought  him  up. 

22 


EPICS 

Monte  au  palais,  entre  en  la  salle. 

Une  belle  damoiselle  vient  a  lui :  c'est  Aude. 

Elle  dit  au  roi:  "Ou  est  Roland  le  capitaine, 

Qui  m'a  jur6  de  me  prendre  pour  femme?" 

Charles  en  est  plein  de  douleur  et  d'angoisse; 

II  pleure  des  yeux,  il  tire  sa  barbe  blanche : 

"Sceur,  chere  amie,  dit-il  tu  me  demandes  nouvelles  d'un  homme  mort. 

Mais  va,  je  saurai  te  remplacer  Roland ; 

Je  ne  puis  te  mieux  dire :  je  te  donnerai  Louis, 

Louis,  mon  fils,  celui  qui  tiendra  mes  marches." 

"Ce  discours  m'est  6trange,"  repond  belle  Aude. 

"Ne  plaise  a  Dieu,  ni  a  ses  saints,  ni  a  ses  anges, 
Qu'  apres  Roland  je  vive  encore!" 
Lors  elle  perd  sa  couleur  et  tombe  aux  pieds  de  Charles. 
Elle  est  morte  soudain :  Dieu  veuille  avoir  son  ame ! ' 

Antedating  the  epic  of  Roland  is  a  singular  production 
(about  1060)  which  we  cannot  ignore — a  complete  poem, 
written  in  heroic  verse,  entitled  The  Pilgrimage  of  Charle- 
magne to  Jersualem,  the  only  comic  chanson  de  geste  exist- 
ing (found  in  a  manuscript  of  the  thirteenth  century  in  the 
British  Museum).  An  abstract  of  this  extraordinary  com- 
position will  prove  interesting : 

1  DEATH  OF  AUDE 

(Literal  translation) 
The  Emperor  has  returned  from  Spain: 
He  arrives  at  Aix,  the  best  city  of  France. 
He  rides  up  to  the  palace,  enters  the  hall. 
A  beautiful  lady  comes  to  meet  him:  it  is  Aude. 
She  says  to  the  king:  "Where  is  Roland  the  chief, 
Who  swore  to  take  me  for  wife?  " 
Charles  is  filled  with  sorrow  and  anguish; 
His  eyes  weep,  he  pulls  his  white  beard. 

"Sister,  dear  friend,"  says  he,  "you  ask  me  about  a  dead  man. 
But  I  shall  know  how  to  fill  Roland's  place. 
I  cannot  say  better:  I  will  give  you  Louis, 
Louis,  my  son,  he  who  will  rule  over  my  lands." 
.  .  .  "'Tis  a  strange  speech  you  make  me,"  answers  fair  Aude. 
"  God  and  his  saints  and  his  angels  forbid, 
That  I  continue  to  live  after  Roland ! " 

Then  the  color  leaves  her  face  and  she  falls  at  the  feet  of  Charles. 
She  died  suddenly:  God  have  her  soul! 

23 


Charlemagne,  says  our  imaginative  author,  stood  one  day, 
crown  on  head,  before  a  mirror,  admiring  his  majestic  ap- 
pearance. His  queen,  in  a  taunting  spirit,  flung  at  him  the 
gibe  that  in  the  person  of  the  Emperor  Hugo  of  Constan- 
tinople there  reigned  a  sovereign  more  kingly  than  he.  Char- 
lemagne's  vanity  was  stung.  Swearing  a  great  oath  that  he 
would  test  her  tale  by  looking  upon  this  monarch,  and  that 
if  she  had  spoken  falsely  he  would  behead  her  on  his  return, 
he  set  forth  immediately  for  Constantinople  accompanied  by 
his  twelve  paladins.  On  the  way  he  tarried  in  Jerusalem,  to 
make  his  devotions,  and  the  Patriarch  paid  him  all  honor  and 
gave  him  many  precious  relics.  We  learn  from  the  veracious 
poet  that  Charles  and  his  peers  repaired  to  that  church 
"where  the  Lord  Himself  sang  His  first  mass  with  His 
Apostles."  There  were  the  thirteen  chairs  which  no  one 
since  had  dared  to  occupy;  but  Charles  undaunted,  took  the 
seat  of  Jesus,  while  the  twelve  peers  seated  themselves  in  the 
chairs  of  the  Apostles. 

"When  Charles  and  his  companions  reached  Constantinople 
the  emperor  gave  them  a  banquet— a  banquet  so  copious  of 
wine  that  the  Frankish  ruler  and  his  paladins  boasted  in  their 
cups  that  they  would  do  extravagant  deeds.  Charles  him- 
self declared  that  with  one  stroke  of  his  sword  he  would  halve 
a  horse  and  the  ironclad  knight  that  bestrode  him.  Roland, 
on  his  part,  undertook  to  overthrow  the  city  walls  with  a 
blast  from  his  horn,  and  to  tear  out  the  beard  of  the  Greek 
emperor.  Another  paladin,  not  to  be  outdone,  vowed  that 
he  would  turn  the  river  from  its  course  and  inundate  the 
capital.  These  boasts,  and  others  not  very  becoming,  being 
reported  to  Hugo  by  a  spy  hidden  conveniently  in  a  hollow 
column,  the  royal  host  informed  his  guests  that  they  would  be 
detained  until  they  had  made  good  their  vauntings.  Greatly 
embarrassed,  they  sought  to  excuse  themselves,  but  Hugo 
would  not  relent.  So  they  prayed  to  Heaven  for  aid,  invok- 
ing the  saints  whose  relics  they  bore  with  them.  And  it 
came  to  pass  that  the  walls  of  the  city  began  to  fall,  and  the 
water  to  pour  in.  Hugo  asked  no  more,  but  showered  presents 
on  the  pilgrims  and  bade  them  depart  as  they  had  come.  Fi- 
nally, we  learn  that  Charles,  upon  his  return  home,  forgave  the 
queen,  in  view  of  the  pleasures  he  had  tasted  on  his  journey. 

24 


EPICS 

The  external  form  of  these  poems  varies  little.  The  Chan- 
son de  Roland  is  in  couplets,  tirades,  or  stanzas  (laisses).1 
Every  stanza  forms  a  natural  division  of  the  narrative.  The 
couplet  is  composed  in  the  Roland  poem  of  at  least  twelve  to 
fifteen  verses  and  becomes  much  more  developed  in  the  later 
poems.  Assonance  at  first  prevails — assonance  consisting  in 
a  repetition  of  the  last  accented  vowel  in  a  word  indepen- 
dently of  the  consonants  following  it.  Later  the  rhyme  pre- 
vails. 

Charles  Aubertin,  author  of  the  Origins  of  French  Poetry 
describes  the  epics  thus:  They  disclose  a  happy  instinct,  a 
brave  fervor;  we  note  a  welling  forth  of  naive  and  forceful 
qualities,  the  beginnings  of  grandeur.  But  art  is  absent, 
composition  is  almost  wanting.  The  recital  is  neither  rich 
nor  graceful ;  it  is  rather  like  a  good  old  breast-plate,  and  its 
penetration  is  that  of  an  iron  sword.  The  verses,  running 
all  alike,  following  the  one  upon  the  other  with  a  similarity 
of  sound,  suggest  medieval  barons  in  ponderous  armor.  One 
of  poetic  intuition  may  perceive  an  entire  moral  state  far 
removed  from  our  own — a  less  cultivated,  a  less  complex 
humanity,  yet  young  and  full  of  life ;  and  one  undergoes  with 
joy  its  fortifying  influence.  And  this  is  the  true  merit  of 
the  French  epic  poems.  If  the  literary  interest  frequently 
flags,  if  the  poetry  falls  below  mediocrity,  there  remains 
nevertheless  the  historic  interest— that  is  to  say  the  accurate 
picture  of  feudal  manners  in  their  living  originality.  It  is 
here  one  must  repair  if  he  would  see  the  portrait  and  the 
reflection  of  an  epoch  which  the  later  French  chroniclers  have 
by  no  means  described — which  Joinville,  Froissart,  Ville- 
hardouin  himself,  in  their  primitive  rudeness,  did  not  know. 
The  chansons  de  geste  are,  in  a  word,  the  poetic  history  of 
feudalism. 

Gaston  Paris,  who  has  set  forth  the  immense  influence  of 
the  French  heroic  epics  upon  the  Germanic  and  Latin  world 
of  Europe  tells  us  that  they  were  transplanted  early  to  the 
neighboring  countries :  England,  Germany,  Holland,  Norway, 
Spain,  but  above  all,  in  Italy,  where  dialects  more  or  less 
analogous  to  the  French  prevailed.  The  poems  first  sung  in 

1  See  Le"on  Gautier's  Chanson  de  Roland  (texte  critique,  eighth  edition). 

25 


THE    HISTORY   OF   FRENCH   LITERATURE 

French  were  then  strongly  influenced  by  the  dialects  of  North- 
ern Italy  and  a  romantic  element  was  introduced.  In  the 
course  of  time,  these  Franco-Italian  poems  were  imitated  in 
Italian  verse  and  prose,  culminating  in  an  epic  poetry  such 
as  Ariosto's  brilliant  Orlando  Furioso,  Bajardo's  Orlando 
Innamorato,  Tasso's  Goffredo  (later  called  Gerusalemme  Li- 
berata),  Pulci's  Morgante  Maggiore  and  others.  As  for  the 
prose— the  romances— they  continue  to  delight  the  people. 
Even  to-day  a  compilation  made  from  several  of  them  and 
published  with  the  title,  Reali  di  Francia,  enjoys  a  vogue 
which  numberless  editions  attest.  It  is  the  merit  of  the  epics 
that  they  parallel  true  history  with  the  national  legendary 
history,  and  indicate  the  transformation  imposed  from  cen- 
tury to  century  on  persons  and  events. 

The  reign  of  Charlemagne  "inspired"  the  poets  of  subse- 
quent periods  to  produce  innumerable  verified  romances  which 
it  would  be  tedious  to  analyze.  But  in  the  older  poems  the 
type  of  Charlemagne  is  apotheosized,  whereas  in  the  subse- 
quent romances,  in  order  to  please  the  great  vassals  of  the 
thirteenth  century  in  their  struggle  against  royalty,  he  is  dis- 
torted into  caricature.  The  role  of  woman  also  changes;  in 
the  early  poems  she  was  depicted  as  rude  and  wild,  but 
chaste;  in  the  later  poems  she  is  represented  as  dishonorable 
and  lascivious.  In  short,  the  older  poems  are  more  simple, 
but  natural,  the  later  ones  are  false  and  strained.  Leon 
Gautier  informs  us  that  no  Provencale  chanson  de  geste  has 
been  preserved,  unless  it  be  Giratz  de  Rousilho,  which,  how- 
ever, was  composed  in  both  the  languages  d'oc  and  d'oil.  He 
concludes  that  Northern  France  only  achieved  the  epic  form 
of  poetry.  The  last  epic  cycle  of  France  was  that  of  the 
Crusades.  Two  other  important  cycles  in  France  during  the 
Middle  Ages  are  the  Breton  Cycle  of  Celtic  inspiration  and 
the  Cycle  of  Antiquity  taken  from  the  legendary  sayings  re- 
lating to  Greece  and  Rome. 

Toward  the  middle  of  the  twelfth  century,  along  with  the 
Germanic  epic,  the  Celtic  traditions  suddenly  took  their  place 
and  with  them  a  new  world  arose — a  world  less  barbarous  and 
warlike.  The  chanson  de  geste  is  essentially  feudal;  the  new 
saga  marks  a  departure  from  feudalism.  While  the  scene  of 
the  chansons  de  geste  is  in  France  and  the  neighboring  coun- 

26 


EPICS 

tries,  that  of  the  legends  of  the  Breton  Cycle  -was  restricted 
to  the  lands  where  the  Celtic  dialects  were  spoken.  Of  the 
three  branches  of  that  dialect  the  Gaelic  disappeared  since 
the  fourth  century;  the  Gaelic  is  preserved  in  Ireland,  Scot- 
land, and  on  the  Isle  of  Man ;  the  Breton  or  Cymric  in  Wales 
and  in  Brittany  *  where  it  was  introduced  by  the  Bretons 
who  fled  before  the  Saxon  invasion,  taking  refuge  in  an- 
cient Armor ica.  Thus  the  traditions  were  brought  from  Eng- 
land and  introduced  by  the  trouveres — Breton  or  Welsh 
and  then  French  musicians — to  the  big  and  little  courts  of 
France. 

The  most  ancient  texts  preserved  cannot  be  traced  back 
farther  than  about  1150,  but  it  is  certain  that  these  were 
preceded  by  oral  recitals  of  a  much  earlier  period.  The  most 
ancient  form  in  which  the  Breton  traditions  seem  to  have 
appeared  is  in  the  lai.  The  lais  (lays)  were  sung  by  these 
musicians  to  the  accompaniment  of  the  harp,  and  through 
this  channel  the  epic  traditions  of  the  Celts  of  Great  Britain 
spread  throughout  France.  The  largest  collection  of  lays 
was  gathered  by  Marie  de  France  and  dedicated  to  Henry 
II  of  England,  second  husband  of  Eleanore  of  Aquitaine, 
the  queen  who  made  Breton  poetry  the  fashion  at  her  courts. 
From  Marie  de  Champagne,  daughter  of  Eleanore  and  her 
first  husband  Louis  VII  of  France,  the  poet  Chrestien  de 
Troyes  received  the  theme  of  his  Lancelot,2  the  most  brilliant 
versification  of  the  Breton  romances. 

The  Breton  Cycle,  called  also  the  Arthurian  or  Cycle  of 
the  Round  Table3  forms  an  immense  collection  to  which 
the  poets  of  various  countries  collaborated.  In  the  most  of 
these  compositions  King  Arthur  fills  the  role  assigned  to 
Charlemagne  in  the  French  epics.  The  first  notice  literature 
takes  of  Arthur  is  in  a  Latin  chronicle  by  the  Breton  monk 
Nennius  in  the  eighth  century.  According  to  common  ver- 
sion he  lived  in  the  sixth  century  and  was  the  son  of  Pen- 

1  This  language  is  spoken  by  over  a  million  people  in  Brittany  to-day, 
of  which,  however,  about  half  the  number  also  speak  French. 

2  Dante  has  given  the  character  of  Lancelot  an  important  place  in  his 
Francesco,  da  Rimini  episode. 

3  The  twelve  knights  of  King  Arthur  are  all  seated  indiscriminately 
about  the  Round  Table,  significant  of  their  equality. 

27 


THE    HISTORY   OF    FRENCH   LITERATURE 

dragon.  The  last  Breton  king,1  he  defended  England  against 
the  Picts  and  Scots  in  twelve  battles,  but  disappeared  after 
the  last  battle.  The  Bretons,  deprived  of  their  king,  took 
refuge  in  Armorica  in  France,  which  province  took  from  them 
the  name  of  Bretagne  (Brittany).  Tradition  has  it  that 
Arthur  did  not  die  but  was  taken  by  the  enchanter  Merlin 
and  the  bard  Faliesin  to  the  island  of  Avalon,  the  "Land  of 
Eternal  Youth,"  whence  he  would  some  day  return  to  raise 
his  kingdom  to  its  former  magnificence. 

The  poets  in  the  age  of  Arthur  and  in  the  generation  im- 
mediately following,  celebrated  the  hero's  exploits  in  brief 
but  expressive  songs ;  a  century  later  the  songs  were  developed 
and  the  legendary  recital  appeared.  England's  subjugation 
by  the  Saxons,  and  the  overthrow  of  the  Saxon  rule  by  the 
Normans  (1066),  each  imposed  new  matter  on  a  legend  al- 
ready transformed;  and  each  series  of  contributors  wrought 
according  to  the  genius  of  their  race  and  the  taste  of  the 
time. 

The  two  principal  sources  of  the  subject  matter  of  Brit- 
tany were  the  Historic/,  regum  Britannia  by  Godfrey  of 
Monmouth  1136  (published  by  San  Marte  1854)  and  the 
Roman  de  Brut  by  Robert  Wace.  From  these  sources  have 
proceeded  in  the  twelfth  and  thirteenth  centuries  an  enor- 
mous quantity  of  poems  divisible  into  two  groups.  The  first, 
composed  of  poems  strictly  treating  of  the  Round  Table,  in- 
clude all  those  which  are  inspired  by  the  love  of  chivalry 
and  heroism,  the  principal  ones  being:  Lancelot,  Merlin, 
Yvain,  Erec,  and  lUnide,2  le  Chevalier  au  Lion,  Tristan  de 
Leonnais.  The  second  group  has  a  religious  tendency  alto- 
gether mystical,  the  object  of  which  is  the  search  for  the  Holy 
Grail.  Of  these  the  Romance  of  Perceval3  by  the  ancient 
trouvere  Chrestien  de  Troyes  is  the  oldest  and  best.  It  was 
continued  by  successive  French  versifiers  to  the  extent  of 
some  fifty  thousand  verses. 

1  According  to  Breton  tradition  Arthur's  court  was  held  in  Carduel  in 
Cumberland,  but  a  Welsh  tradition  has  it  in  Carleon. 

2  The  same  legend  that  Tennyson  used  in  his  Idylls  of  the  King. 

8  The  legend  of  Perceval,  Welsh  Peredur  (searcher  for  the  basin),  is 
among  the  collection  of  Welsh  tales  in  the  Red  Book  of  Hergest,  a  manu- 
script of  the  fourteenth  century,  at  Jesus  College,  Oxford. 

28 


EPICS 

Chrestien  de  Troyes,  one  of  the  most  celebrated  poets  of 
the  Middle  Ages,  was  the  greatest  champion  of  love,  chivalry, 
and  the  cult  of  women.  One  of  his  best  works  is  the  Roman 
de  Cliges  written  about  1160.  Cliges  is  in  love  with  Fenice 
who  returns  his  love,  but  is  forced  to  marry  his  uncle  Alexius, 
emperor  of  Byzantium  (Constantinople).  Cliges  in  despair 
seeks  diversion  in  many  adventures  at  the  court  of  Arthur 
in  Brittany.  His  love  for  Fenice,  however,  brings  him  back 
to  Constantinople.  Fenice  feigning  illness  is  given  a  strong 
sleeping  potion  by  her  nurse,  and  seemingly  dead,  is  in- 
terred with  great  pomp  in  the  cathedral,  where  during  the 
night  she  elopes  with  Cliges.  For  more  than  a  year  they 
live  in  undisturbed  happiness,  but  finally  discovered  and 
pursued  by  the  emperor's  wrath,  they  flee  for  protection  to 
Arthur's  court.  Soon  after  the  emperor  dies  and  they  re- 
turn to  reign  in  Constantinople.  Tradition  has  it  that  since 
then  the  rulers  of  Constantinople  keep  their  wives  closely 
guarded. 

At  the  end  of  the  twelfth  century,  Robert  de  Boron  in 
his  trilogy  of  the  Grail  (Joseph  of  Arimathea,  Merlin,  Per- 
ceval) united  the  Christian  legend  with  the  Celtic  traditions 
of  the  Round  Table.  These  allegorical  recitals  infused  with 
vague  mysticism  treat  of  the  Grail  (the  old  French  word 
greal,  Latinized  gratalis)  as  the  vessel  used  by  Christ  at  the 
Last  Supper,  and  in  which  Joseph  of  Arimathea  afterwards 
caught  the  blood  flowing  from  the  side  of  the  crucified 
Saviour.  This  precious  chalice,  so  the  legend  ran,  was  car- 
ried to  Britain  where  it  was  hidden  for  centuries  and  finally 
recovered  by  the  Welsh  hero  Perceval.  From  this  poem  are 
derived  subsequent  forms  of  the  legend.  It  is  evident  that 
they  proceeded  from  sacerdotal  influences.1  At  the  same 
time  the  lay  influence  was  exercised  in  the  recital  of  the 
deeds  done  by  the  knights  to  win  a  sight  of  the  Holy  Grail 
which,  it  was  said,  insured  great  happiness  to  the  possessor 
of  perfect  chastity,  but  vanished  from  sight  when  approached 
by  one  not  perfectly  pure. 

1  The  legend  of  the  Grail  or  Graal  is  said  to  have  been  suggested  by  the 
words  in  Matt,  xxvi,  23:  "Qui  intingit  mecum  manum  in  paropside  hie 
me  tradet."  (He  that  dippeth  his  hand  with  me  in  the  dish  the  same  shall 
betray  me.) 

29 


THE    HISTORY   OF    FRENCH   LITERATURE 

One  of  the  oldest  romances  of  this  cycle  is  the  song  of 
Tristan  and  his  undying  love  for  the  fair  Iseult  of  Ireland, 
wife  of  King  Mark  of  Cornwall,  which  ends  in  the  death  of 
the  lovers.  Originally  a  Breton  or  Cornish  legend  of  ancient 
and  barbarous  times,  it  became  in  the  Middle  Ages  the  sub- 
ject of  poems  and  romances  in  numerous  tongues.  Received 
by  the  trouveres  Beroul  and  Thomas  of  the  twelfth  century, 
it  had  an  extraordinary  distribution  throughout  all  Europe. 
Gaston  Paris  describes  it  as  one  of  the  finest  love  epics  ever 
conceived.  Eilhard  von  Oberge  introduced  this  romance  to 
German  literature  in  the  last  half  of  the  twelfth  century; 
the  great  Gottfried  von  Strassburg  left  the  famous  epic, 
though  unfinished,  in  its  most  classical  form,  and  sequels 
were  written  by  two  later  poets,  the  last  in  1300.  From  this 
Richard  Wagner  drew  the  subject  of  one  of  his  most  im- 
pressive music  dramas. 

Godfrey  of  Monmouth  in  the  Historia  regum  Britannia 
writes  of  a  strange  personage — partly  of  Welsh  tradition, 
partly  of  his  own  invention — the  sorcerer  Merlin,1  son  of  a 
demon  and  a  woman.  Merlin  figures  in  many  romances  of  the 
Breton  Cycle.  His  life  was  written  in  popular  Latin,  and  his 
prophecies,  credited  indiscriminately,  formed  a  most  interest- 
ing chapter  in  medieval  literature.  They  embraced,  among 
others,  that  prophecy  commonly  applied  to  the  infamous 
Isabeau  of  Bavaria,  who  betrayed  France,  and  to  Jeanne 
d'Arc,  who  saved  it:  "One  woman  will  destroy  France,  one 
woman  will  restore  her." 

Merlin's  love  affairs  with  the  fairy  Viviane,  the  lady  of 
the  lake,  are  an  interesting  feature  of  the  legend.  In  his 
wanderings  in  a  forest  in  French  Brittany,  Merlin  met  the 
young  fairy  Viviane.  He  told  her  that  he  wrought  many 
wonderful  things.  To  test  him,  Viviane  asked  that  he  cause 
to  appear  in  the  forest  a  castle  before  which  knights  and 
ladies  should  pass.  Merlin  described  several  circles  with  his 
magic  wand,  and  the  castle  appeared.  Charmed  with  his 
magic,  she  gave  her  heart  to  him,  and  thereafter  the  magician 
came  to  see  her  every  year  for  a  season.  But  this  did  not 
satisfy  her;  she  wished  to  keep  him  forever.  So  she  asked 

1  In  the  Middle  Ages  Merlin  became  "  le  type  de  1'homme  supeiieur  dont 
le  g4nie  est  annihite  par  les  ruses  d'une  femme." 

30 


EPICS 

him  whether  he  knew  a  spell  that  would  hold  some  one  in  an 
enclosure  without,  however,  imprisoning  him.  For  a  long 
time  he  refused  her  this  secret  knowledge;  but  she  finally 
drew  it  from  him,  and  one  day  when  he  had  fallen  asleep,  his 
head  on  her  knees,  under  a  blooming  rosebush,  she  repeated 
the  incantation  he  had  taught  her,  and  on  awakening  he  be- 
came aware  that  he  was  chained  forever. 

The  literary  output  of  the  Breton  Cycle  is  inexhaustible. 
The  feudal  Occident — romanized,  germanized,  christianized 
— has  found  entertainment  in  it.  As  the  French  listened 
to  the  Breton  harpists,  their  imagination  was  captivated  by 
the  fantastic  character  of  the  tales  in  which  love  and  chivalry 
played  so  great  a  part.  Introduced  into  the  coarse  feudal- 
ism of  the  North,  they  opened  a  new  world  to  them — the  world 
of  fairies  and  genii,  of  monsters  and  miracles  and  magic. 

From  this  poetry  sprang  that  ideal  of  courteous  chivalry 
—the  protection  of  the  weak  and  respect  for  woman.  Women 
who  rarely  figure  in  the  ancient  epics  are  here  supreme  and 
find  poetic  expression:  such  as  Morgana,1  the  fairy  sister  of 
Arthur;  his  wife  Guinevere,2  with  eyes  of  the  ''finest  blue 
of  the  heavens"  and  who  loved  Lancelot  of  the  Lake;  Blan- 
chefleur 3  whose  story  of  her  love  for  Floire  is  strikingly 
like  that  of  Aucassin  and  Nicolette;  and  a  whole  galaxy  of 
fairy  creations.  And  these  figures  are  stranger,  more  cap- 
tivating because  of  the  novelty  of  their  adventures  and  senti- 
ments, than  all  the  heroes  of  classical  antiquity— than  Alex- 
ander, JBneas,  and  Caesar— who  formed  a  Cycle  of  Rome  or 
Antique  Cycle  introduced  to  France  by  the  poets. 

A  thirteenth-century  poet,  John  Bodel  of  Arras,  divides 
those  elaborate  versified  recitals  into  three  classes  and  begins 
his  poem  Chanson  des  Saisnes,*  thus: 

1  One  of  the  leading  feminine  characters,  the  heroine  of  the  Morte 
d' Arthur,  also  appears  in  Ariosto's  Orlando  Furioso;  introduced  into 
Italy,  the  personage  became  popular  with  the  Italians,  who  gave  her 
name,  Fata  Morgana  (fairy  Morgana),  to  a  phenomenon  of  mirage  pro- 
duced on  the  coast  of  Messina  and  Reggio. 

J  In  Chrestien  de  Troyes's  story  of  Roman  de  la  Charrette. 

3  Boccaccio  used  the  legend  in  E  FUocopo. 

4  Song  of  the  Saxons,  in  which  he  treats  of  Charlemagne's  wars  with 
Guiteclin  (Wittiking).    Some  authorities  claim  the  authorship  for  Jehan 
Bordians. 

31 


THE    HISTORY   OF    FRENCH   LITERATURE 

Ne  sont  que  trois  matures  a  nul  homme  entendant 
De  France,  de  Bretagne,  et  de  Rome  la  grant.1 

The  subject  matter  of  "  Great  Rome,"  Albert  tells  us,  em- 
braces poems  relating  both  to  ancient  and  sacred  history. 
Hector,  ^neas,  the  heroes  of  the  siege  of  Thebes,  Alexander, 
Julius  Caesar,  and  Vespasian  himself,  are  pictured  in  these 
curious  compositions.  They  are  probably  the  work  of  clerics 
somewhat  better  informed  than  their  fellows,  and  possessed 
of  a  pedantry  that  becomes  grotesque  in  its  display,  inasmuch 
as  their  knowledge  of  history  seems  a  bit  confused.  Thus  in 
one  of  these  romances  we  see  Judas  Maccabeus  fighting  the 
Saracens  and  marrying  their  king's  daughter — a  union,  we 
are  told,  from  which  sprung  Brunehild  (obit  613  A.D.), 
mother  of  Julius  Caesar.  He  in  turn,  betook  himself  to  the 
court  of  Arthur,  King  of  Brittany,  where  he  married  the 
fairy  Morgana,  mother  of  St.  George  and  of  Oberon  the 
dwarf,  who  already  figured  in  the  romance  of  Huon  of  Bor- 
deaux. There  were  few  poetic  beauties  to  compensate  for 
these  absurd  anachronisms. 

The  oldest  Alexandre  chanson 2  in  the  French  language 
composed  by  the  cleric  Simon  and  amplified  by  Lambert  li 
Tors,  Alexandre  de  Bernay,  and  Pierre  de  Saint-Cloud,  is 
written  in  twelve  syllable  iambic  verse,  from  which  the 
famous  Alexandrine  of  French  poetical  composition  received 
its  name.  The  history  of  the  Macedonian  King,  Alexander 
the  Great,  is  the  subject  of  this  epic  of  twenty-two  thousand 
verses;  its  coloring,  however,  is  not  that  of  classic  antiquity, 
but  of  the  feudal  times  of  the  thirteenth  century.  The  Roman 
de  Troie  by  Benoit  de  Sainte-More  in  which  the  author  tells 
that  the  French  are  descended  from  the  Trojans  likewise  re- 
flects feudal  times. 

1  There  are  but  three  kinds  for  any  well-informed  man  (the  epics)  of 
France,  of  Brittany,  and  of  Rome  the  Great. 

*  An  earlier  Alexander  poem  was  written  in  the  twelfth  century  by 
Alberic  de  Besangon,  or  Brianson,  in  the  Dauphin^  dialect. 


CHAPTER   III 

FABLIAUX 

POETRY,  or  rather,  poetic  literature,  had  up  to  this  time 
been  solely  devoted  to  the  upper  classes  represented  by 
the  great  vassals.  They  alone  were  the  heroes  of  the  poems, 
and  they  alone  were  almost  the  only  auditors  or  readers.  But 
toward  the  end  of  the  twelfth  century  a  new  public  appeared. 
The  burgher  also  came  to  hear  the  poems  of  the  trouveres; 
and  after  the  burgher,  the  rustic.  Hence  the  necessity  arose 
to  sing  not  only  for  the  kings  and  the  powerful  barons,  for 
the  prelates,  priests  and  monks,  but  rlso  for  the  tradesmen 
of  the  towns  and  the  peasants  of  the  villages.  The  fabliaux 
originated  with  the  bourgeoisie,  just  about  the  time  when  that 
class  was  really  established,  but  they  were  written  for  the 
amusement  of  all  classes.  In  those  conceived  to  flatter  the 
pride  of  some  great  vassal  or  knight,  the  burgher  or  rustic 
played  a  ridiculous  role.  In  others,  on  the  contrary,  the 
priest  or  the  lord  was  the  butt,  and  the  rustic  laughed  his 
rude  laugh.  The  farces  related  were  not  always  in  the  best 
taste;  the  salt  was  somewhat  coarse— but  there  was  salt.  The 
middle  class  also  had  its  place  in  the  fabliaux ;  and  this  place 
was  generally  honorable — for  in  that  class  were  found  the 
solid  qualities  of  the  race;  righteousness,  sincerity,  economy, 
patriotism.  Finally  religion,  which  played  such  a  large  part 
in  the  society  of  the  Middle  Ages,  has  inspired  a  certain 
number  of  these  tales— some  in  which  we  see  a  true  elevation 
of  spirit,  and  others  in  which  the  devotion  is  conventional. 

The  novel  of  adventure— usually  a  series  of  stories  con- 
nected with  the  same  personage— forms  the  transition  be- 
tween the  epics  and  the  fabliaux.  Some  of  these  are  of 
original  invention  and  some  are  based  on  national,  Celtic,  or 
Oriental  traditions;  as:  Robert  le  Diable,  Richard  sans  Peur, 
4  33 


THE    HISTORY   OP    FRENCH    LITERATURE 

Foulke  Fitz-Warin,1  llle  et  Galeron,  Comte  d'Artois.  An- 
other class  of  novels  popular  at  this  period  were  the  romans 
a  tiroir,  novels  which  could  be  lengthened  or  shortened  by 
the  addition  or  the  suppression  of  the  digressional  part,  of 
which  an  example  is  the  novel  called  Sept  Sages  de  Rome. 
The  fabliau,2  also  called  conte  or  aventure,  is  a  popular 
anecdote,  often  satirical,  but  sometimes  tender  and  touch- 
ing— a  short  tale  in  verse.  It  is  a  combination  of  popular 
wisdom  and  malice  contrived  to  engage  both  the  reason  and 
the  fancy  of  the  reader.  The  question  of  the  origin  and 
propagation  of  the  fabliaux  is  a  matter  of  discussion  among 
eminent  critics.  Theodor  Benfey,3  Silvestre  de  Sacy,4  Gas- 
ton  Paris,5  Max  Miiller,6  Reinhold  Koehler,7  all  uphold  the 
oriental  theory:  the  great  majority  of  fabliaux  originated  in 
a  common  source — India8 — and  were  circulated  in  Europe 
through  two  intermediaries,  Byzantium  which  had  received 
them  from  Syria  or  Persia  after  their  direct  importation 
from  India  to  those  countries,  and  through  the  Arabs.  The 
Arabs  transmitted  them  in  two  ways:  in  Spain,  by  the  Jews 
and  in  Syria  by  the  crusaders  who,  living  in  intimate  relation- 
ship with  the  Mussulman  population,  gathered  the  tales  orally 
and  transmitted  them  in  the  same  manner  throughout 
Europe.  From  Spain,  the  transmission  was  in  a  literary 
form  and  through  the  Jews,  the  cosmopolitan  people  par  ex- 
cellence of  the  Middle  Ages,  and  the  only  ones  who  knew 
Arabic  and  could  translate  it  into  Latin.9 

1  The  sources  of  the  Robin  Hood  tales. 

3  Fablel,  of  which  the  regular  plural  is  fableaux;  but  fabliaux — a  form  of 
the  old  Picard  dialect — is  upheld  by  many  authorities;  in  Picardy  this 
genre  of  literature  was  most  richly  developed. 

3  Pantchatantra,  fiinf  Bucher  indischer  Fabeln,  Marchen  und  Erz&h- 
lungen,  aus  dem  Sanskrit  ubersetzt  mit  Einleitung  von  Theodor  Benfey. 

*  Calila  et  Dimna,  ou  les  Fables  de  Bidpai  en  arabe. 

*  Litterature  francaise  au  moyen-Age. 

•  The  migration  of  the  Fable. 

1  Aufsatzte  ilber  Marchen  und  Volkslieder. 

'Ten  Brink  in  his  Geschichte  der  Englischen  Literatur  also  says:  "Die 
Hauptmasse  der  Nouvellen  des  Mittelalters  stammen  von  Indien." 

•  Recueil  general  et  complet  des  fabliaux  des  XIII  et  XIV  siecles  imprimis 
ou  intdits,  public  d'apYes  les  manuscrits,  par  Anatole  de  Montaiglon  et  par 
Gaston  Raynaud. 

34 


FABLIAUX 

The  oriental  theory  is  disputed  by  the  celebrated  savant 
Joseph  Bedier,1  who  writes  that  the  fabliaux  were  born  spon- 
taneously on  all  points  of  the  globe  and  that  it  is  equally 
impossible  to  determine  their  place  of  origin  or  their  mode 
of  propagation. 

The  writers  of  the  fabliaux  made  no  pretense  to  literary 
merit,  but  their  conies  have  the  merit  of  reflecting  the  life 
of  the  period.  Some  are  delightful  little  stories  well  told  and 
full  of  sentiment,  such  as  La  Vair  palefroi  (The  Dapple-gray 
Horse)  ;  Guillaume  au  faucon  (William  with  the  Falcon) ; 
Les  deux  changeurs  (The  Two  Money-changers)  ;  Le  Chevalier 
au  Chainse  (The  Knight  with  the  Tunic.)  The  general  char- 
acteristic of  the  fabliaux,  however,  is  pleasantry,  and  this  is 
indicated  by  the  terms  in  which  the  writers  themselves  style 
them — bourds  or  gabets  (untruths,  trickery) — fit  to  be  told 
after  repasts  to  aid  the  digestion.  In  some  fabliaux  the 
pleasantry  leads  to  obscenity  and  disgusting  platitudes.  The 
women  are  usually  unfavorably  depicted,  sometimes  as  de- 
praved, or  peevish,  or  ruseful,  and  often  with  profound  con- 
tempt. The  epoch  of  the  fabliaux,  of  which  only  one  hundred 
and  fifty  have  been  preserved,  comprises  about  two  centuries, 
the  oldest  being  Richeut  (1159),  and  the  latest  by  Jean  de 
Conde  (about  1340).  But  the  majority  date  from  the  end  of 
the  twelfth  century  and  the  commencement  of  the  thirteenth 
to  the  middle  of  the  fourteenth  centuries.  The  fabliau 
Richeut  is  a  picture  of  the  life  of  a  courtesan  of  the  twelfth 
century,  traced  with  great  surety  of  touch  and  a  surprising 
realism.  Gaston  Paris  says  of  it:  "  Richeut  reminds  us  of  the 
most  realistic  novels  of  our  own  days,  in  which  such  masculine 
and  such  feminine  types  are  described  with  relish,  and  we 
cannot  refuse  to  recognize  that  this  is  a  vein  very  French 
indeed,  and  altogether  very  different  from  what  is  called 
I' esprit  gaulois,  which  reigns  in  many  fables." 

The  French  fabliaux  are  rather  diverse  in  character.  One 
finds  among  them  the  tale  of  devotion — the  itinerary  of  St. 
Peter,  the  narrations  of  Aristaeus,  the  reputed  doings  of 
St.  Paul.  In  our  own  day  Anatole  France  has  found  in 
them  a  source  of  inspiration,  and  has  renewed  this  form  of 

1  See  Les  Fabliaux,  by  Joseph  Be'dier. 
35 


literature  in  a  manner  that  denotes  great  talent.  The  sub- 
jects of  the  fabliaux  are  frequently  great  sinners  who  even- 
tually do  penance  and  are  forgiven.  We  find  among  them 
the  story  satirizing  the  clergy;  the  story  of  the  spendthrift; 
Dit  de  Berenger1  (the  Tale  of  Berenger),  prototype  of 
Moliere's  George  Dandin;  La  Mauvaise  Femme  (the  Wicked 
Dame) ;  Le  Court  Mantel2  (the  Short  Mantel) — meaning  the 
mantle  which  becomes  shorter  or  longer  according  to  the 
virtue  of  the  lady  who  wears  it.  We  note,  also,  numberless 
stories  of  conjugal  mishaps.  Popular  literature  has  drawn 
most  liberally  on  the  type  of  Bartholo  in  the  Middle  Ages. 
Again,  we  encounter  the  story  that  is  merely  amusing;  La 
Fontaine's,  La  Jeune  Veuve  (The  Young  Widow),  is  taken 
from  a  fabliau  by  Gautier  le  Long,  in  which  the  young  widow 
is  almost  as  lively  in  the  old  text  as  in  the  most  modern  one. 

The  fabliaux  treating  of  religion  are  interesting,  because 
they  show  the  peculiar  conception  the  people  of  the  Middle 
Ages  had  of  religion,  as  for  instance,  the  fable  of  the  Cour 
de  Paradis  (Court  of  Paradise),  a  charming,  but  strange 
poem  which  tells  of  God,  of  the  Virgin  Mary,  the  saints  and 
apostles  dancing  to  a  tune.  In  this  poem  the  pious  intention  of 
the  poet  is  evident.  Sometimes  the  fabliaux  disclose  an  artless 
daring,  as  in  Le  Vilain  qui  Conquit  le  Paradis  par  plaid,  the 
villain  3  who  gains  admission  to  Paradise  by  pleading  his  own 
cause.  Thus  runs  the  theme :  A  villain  dies,  and  so  occupied 
are  the  angels  and  demons  that  his  unconsidered  soul  arises 
alone  to  the  portals  of  heaven  ere  judgment  has  been  passed. 
"  What  would  you?  "  demands  St.  Peter.  "  Who  allowed  you 
to  come  here  ?  This  is  not  the  abode  of  villains.  Go  hence !  ' ' 
"You  are  always  hard  as  stone,  St.  Peter,"  replies  the  vil- 
lain, ' '  and  yet  it  would  more  become  you  to  be  lenient.  Pride 
sits  with  ill  grace  on  one  who  has  denied  Christ.  Behold  in 
me  a  sincere  and  loyal  man."  St.  Peter  bears  the  rebuff 
meekly,  and  seeks  counsel  of  St.  Thomas,  who  declares  that 
he  will  put  the  villain  in  his  place.  But  when  he  assumes  an 
overbearing  attitude,  he  is  promptly  reminded  of  his  lack  of 

1  See  Be"ranger's  song:  Je  suis  vilain,  vilain,  vilain. 
1  Also  Le  Mantel  mautaillie. 

'Villain  (vilain)  was  used  at  that  time  for  rustic  (both  as  noun  and 
adjective). 

36 


FABLIAUX 

faith ;  and  so,  in  his  confusion,  he  calls  upon  St.  Paul.  This 
good  saint  proves  even  sterner  than  the  others.  "I  recognize 
you,"  says  the  villain,  "by  your  intolerance.  You  are  the 
same  cruel  tyrant  at  whose  hands  the  first  Christians  suf- 
fered." Thereupon  the  three  saints,  equally  confounded, 
lay  the  matter  before  the  Lord,  who  summons  the  bold  villain 
to  His  presence.  "I  have  led  a  pure  and  honorable  life," 
pleads  the  villain.  "I  have  fed  the  hungry,  I  have  clothed 
the  naked,  I  have  sheltered  the  homeless;  I  have  taken  Com- 
munion with  a  clean  conscience.  It  is  thus,  we  have  been 
taught,  that  eternal  life  is  gained.  You  know,  O  Lord,  that 
I  speak  the  truth."  So  the  villain,  after  all,  is  admitted  to 
Paradise. 

But  what  does  one  not  find  in  these  varied  and  precious 
collections  ?  Here  an  elegy  full  of  grace  and  sentiment,  there 
an  idyl  or  an  edifying  tale;  turn  the  page,  and  behold!— a 
gross  buffoonery.  As  Albert  says,  "one  is  by  turns,  moved, 
instructed,  catechised,  refreshed,  rejoiced,  scandalized.  The 
light  and  sensual  mind  discovers  therein  a  nourishment  to 
its  taste;  the  delicate  and  pure  soul  finds  food  for  sweet 
enchantment."  In  the  fabliau  of  Le  Chevalier  au  Barizel 
(the  Knight  with  the  Barrel),  we  see  to  what  heights  these 
narrators  can  rise.  A  knight  black  with  crime  is  condemned 
by  Heaven's  decree  to  wander  on  the  earth  until  he  has  suc- 
ceeded in  filling  a  cask  pierced  with  many  holes.  In  vain 
are  his  heroic  endeavors  to  achieve  this  new  task  of  the 
Danai'des.  Then,  one  day,  he  performs  an  act  of  Christian 
devotion  and  charity.  The  succored  one  weeps  with  grati- 
tude; a  tear  falls  into  the  barrel— it  is  filled. 

Among  the  infinite  variety  of  fabliaux  we  note  a  simple, 
didactic  one  that  is  typical  of  its  kind.  This  fabliau  of  the 
Housse  Partie  (the  Divided  Horse-blanket)  by  Bernier,  sug- 
gests King  Lear.  A  father,  having  given  his  estate  to  his 
son  at  the  time  of  the  young  man's  marriage,  becomes  a 
burden  in  his  old  age,  whereupon  his  ungrateful  daughter- 
in-law  conspires  to  drive  him  forth.  It  is  cold,  and  the  old 
man  begs  that  at  least  he  shall  be  provided  with  a  garment 
against  the  weather.  The  unnatural  son  sends  his  own  young 
boy  to  fetch  the  horse-blanket,  and  the  child  returns  with  but 
half  of  it.  "Why  did  you  cut  it  in  two?"  asks  his  father. 

37 


THE    HISTORY   OF    FRENCH   LITERATURE 

To  which  the  little  one  responds  that  he  is  keeping  the  other 
half  for  the  day  when  he,  too,  will  show  his  father  the  door. 
Whereupon  the  unnatural  son  repents,  and  full  amends  are 
made  to  the  old  man. 

Many  of  the  oldest  fabliaux  are  revived  in  the  later 
classical  literature  of  France  and  other  countries.  Boccaccio, 
Chaucer,  Rabelais,  Moliere,  and  La  Fontaine  have  found  the 
inspiration  of  many  of  their  works  in  the  old  fabliaux.  The 
fabliau  of  the  Vilain  Mire  (The  Peasant  Physician)  supplied 
Moliere  with  the  subject  of  his  famous  comedy,  Le  Medecin 
malgre  Lui  (A  Physician  in  Spite  of  Himself).  In  this 
Vilain  Mire  we  are  introduced  to  a  woodcutter  with  a  young 
wife  whom  he  is  obliged  to  leave  alone  all  day.  Fearful  that 
she  may  receive  admirers  in  his  absence,  he  devises  a  singular 
means  to  insure,  as  he  fancies,  her  faithfulness.  Every  morn- 
ing he  beats  her,  and  every  evening  he  effects  a  reconciliation. 
The  woman  resents  this  peculiar  device,  and  seeks  a  means 
of  revenge.  Her  opportunity  arrives  with  two  strangers,  who 
ask  her  to  direct  them  to  some  skillful  country  doctor.  "I 
know  such  a  one,"  she  tells  them,  "but  he  is  possessed  with 
a  strange  mania.  He  does  not  want  to  appear  as  a  man  of 
science,  and  he  will  not  confess  his  skill  until  he  has  been 
beaten  soundly."  She  gives  them  a  minute  description  of 
her  husband,  who  is  cutting  wood  in  the  forest,  and  they  go 
in  search  of  him.  When  approached  by  the  strangers,  he 
does  not,  of  course,  acknowledge  himself  a  physician,  and 
they  proceed  to  extract  the  admission  by  means  of  the  good 
wife's  formula.  They  tell  him  that  the  king's  daughter  is 
desperately  ill,  and  that  he  will  be  well  paid  for  his  serv- 
ices. So  what  with  the  blows  and  the  promise  of  money, 
he  agrees  to  accompany  them.  When  he  is  taken  to  the 
palace  he  is  greatly  embarrassed  upon  finding  that  the 
princess  is  in  a  fair  way  to  choke  to  death,  because  of  a  fish 
bone  in  her  throat,  that  no  one  has  been  able  to  extract.  His 
native  wit  comes  to  his  rescue.  Left  alone,  at  his  request, 
with  the  princess,  he  makes  such  comical  grimaces  and  con- 
tortions that  the  girl,  at  first  astonished,  presently  has  a 
laughing  fit  that  expels  the  fish  bone.  The  king  heaps  gifts 
upon  him,  but  he  is  loath  to  let  such  a  learned  man  depart 
until  certain  ailing  subjects  in  his  domain  have  been  treated 

38 


FABLIAUX 

also.  The  woodsman,  unable  to  refuse,  and  altogether  non- 
plused, requests,  at  a  venture,  that  all  the  invalids  be  gath- 
ered together  in  the  hall  of  the  palace.  "When  they  are 
assembled,  he  has  a  fire  kindled  in  the  great  chimney,  and 
announces  that  the  sole  means  of  effectual  cure  involves  a 
great  sacrifice.  The  sickest  one  among  them  all  must  throw 
himself  into  the  flames,  where  he  will  be  quickly  consumed. 
The  others  must  then  swallow  his  ashes,  which  will  immedi- 
ately restore  them  to  health.  The  only  problem  is  to  deter- 
mine which  is  the  sickest  person.  In  this  dilemma,  all  the 
patients  hasten  to  declare  themselves  well.  Thereupon  the 
amateur  physician  insists  that  they  so  declare  themselves  to 
the  king.  The  monarch  is  delighted,  and  so  enriches  the 
peasant  that  he  no  longer  finds  it  expedient  to  beat  his  wife 
in  order  that  she  may  be  occupied  in  his  absence. 

The  fable  (Latin,  fabula)  is  also  considered  a  spontaneous 
creation  of  the  prehistoric  history  of  the  nations.  There  have 
always  been  fables ;  in  the  literature  of  every  nation  you  will 
find  these  tales  to  which  the  imagination  contributes  less 
than  is  supplied  by  observation  and  the  art  of  the  narrator. 
The  fable  generally  conveys  a  moral,  though  it  is  not  always 
didactic  throughout.  The  most  famous  are  the  Indian  fables 
called  Pilpay.1  The  Greek  fables  also  trace  their  origin  to 
the  Orient,  for  JEsop  (sixth  century  B.C.)  was  a  Phrygian 
slave  and  he  is  the  supposed  originator 2  of  the  beast  fable, 
called  after  him  the  JiEsopic  fables.  Through  the  inter- 
mediary of  the  Latin  compilations,  of  Avianus  (collected 
from  Greek  fables  which  were  called  JEsop)  and  of  Romulus 
(Phgedrian  and  Byzantine  fables),  ^Esop  became  very  pop- 
ular in  the  Middle  Ages  and  it  was  customary  to  give  the 
name  Tsopets  (little  2Esops)  to  all  collections  of  fables.  One 

1  Pilpay,  or  Bidpai,  the  Arabic  translation  of  the  Pahlavi  translation  of 
the  original   Sanskrit  Pantchatantra,   a   celebrated   book  of  fables  and 
considered  the  most  ancient  source  of  fables.     Benfey  traces  the  word 
Bidpai  or  Pilpay  to  the  Sanskrit  vidyapate  (in  Arabic,  bidbah),  meaning 
master  of  sciences,  according  to  which  Bidpai  is  not  the  name  of  an  indi- 
vidual.    Vapereau's  Dictionnaire  des  Litteratures  says  "  Pilpay  or  Bidpay 
is  another  name  for  Vishnu-Sarma,  Indian  (Hindoo)  fabulist." 

2  Some  of  the  fables  attributed  to  ^Esop  were  discovered  in  recent  years 
by  Dr.  Brugsch  Pascha  to  have  been  drawn  from  Egyptian  sources  which 
date  to  fourteen  centuries  B.C. 

39 


THE    HISTORY   OF   FRENCH   LITERATURE 

of  the  largest  and  most  interesting  of  these  collections  was 
composed  by  Marie  de  France,  which  she  translated  from  an 
English  collection. 

The  Ysopets  were  transmitted  in  the  Middle  Ages  by 
the  clerics;  but  independently  of  this  there  were  in  oral  cir- 
culation "  contes  "  of  animals  which  differed  from  the  fable 
because  they  offered  no  moral  aim  but  only  strove  to  be 
amusing.  A  great  many  of  these  "  contes  "  make  a  point  of 
the  quarrel  between  the  wolf  and  the  fox,  who  with  his  finesse 
and  subtle  treachery  plays  him  a  thousand  tricks  to  which 
the  wolf  in  spite  of  his  greater  strength  and  ferocity  invari- 
ably falls  a  victim.  Quite  a  number  of  these  tales  originated 
with  the  people  and  were  collected  and  put  into  verse  by  the 
clerics.  To  this  collection  they  added  other  fables  borrowed 
from  antiquity  or  of  Germanic  origin,  but  almost  all  pro- 
ceeded from  oral  transmission  and  not  from  books.  This 
collection  grew  until  there  were  twenty-six  poems  of  the 
twelfth  and  thirteenth  centuries  forming  the  great  beast  epic 
of  the  Roman  de  Renart  (The  Story  of  the  Fox).  Sainte- 
Beuve  writes:  "  The  satirical  masterpiece  of  the  thirteenth 
century  is  the  Renart— &  production  surpassing  all  others  in 
its  importance  and  popularity.  It  is  a  vast  parody  embrac- 
ing a  collection  of  all  the  gossip  of  the  fireside.  It  echoes 
the  rancor  of  the  small  against  the  great,  and  expresses  the 
political  or  religious  audacity  of  statesmen,  jongleurs,  monks, 
scholars.  It  is  also  animated  with  that  imperious  spirit 
against  women,  which  is  so  strongly  and  so  repugnantly  em- 
phasized in  many  of  the  fabliaux."  The  myth  explaining  the 
genesis  of  the  animals  in  Renart  runs : 

Les  Evain  assauvagissoient 
Et  les  Adam  apprivoisoient.1 

which  is  explained  thus:  When  God  banished  Adam  and 
Eve  from  the  earthly  paradise,  he  gave  them  a  miraculous 
rod.  When  Adam  struck  the  waters  of  the  sea  with  this  rod, 
a  sheep  emerged,  but  when  Eve  in  her  turn  used  it,  a  wolf 

1  See  Le  Roman  de  Renart,  published  by  E.  Martin. 
(Eve  made  them  wild 
Adam  made  them  tame.) 
40 


FABLIAUX 

rushed  from  the  waves  and  carried  off  the  sheep.  Adam 
again  striking  the  waters,  a  dog  appeared  which  pursued  the 
wolf.  Thus  it  continued,  Adam  causing  to  appear  the  gentle 
domestic  animals,  and  Eve  the  ferocious  beasts  and  mischief- 
makers. 

The  Renart  in  brief  is  an  immense  cycle— an  epitome  of 
the  spirit  of  opposition;  and  it  affords  a  complete  picture  of 
the  Middle  Ages.  What  seems  confusion,  incoherence  even, 
is  but  an  expression  of  historical  truth.  In  the  French  Mid- 
dle Ages,  we  observe  a  chaos  of  disorganized  forces  working 
to  destroy  themselves:  the  ancient  world  and  the  modern 
world,  the  Germanic  traditions  and  the  Roman  traditions, 
the  feudal  rights  and  the  communal  liberties,1  reason  and 
faith,  Church  and  State.  All  that  proceeds  from  this  chaos 
—morals,  laws,  arts,  sciences,  philosophy,  theology — is  af- 
fected by  the  tumult.  Hence  the  character  of  the  Renart — a 
gigantic  creation,  or  rather,  compilation,  presenting  a  bizarre 
mixture  of  ignorance  and  erudition,  of  details  gross,  fastid- 
ious, discordant,  of  light  and  lively  ebullitions.  It  stretches 
from  one  end  of  the  Middle  Ages  to  the  other,  gathering  the 
inspiration  of  each  generation,  growing  with  the  follies  and 
the  wisdom  of  each  epoch.  It  is  a  collective  work  erected 
by  the  contributions  of  the  public  mind — "like  those  great 
cathedrals,  now  building,  now  stationary  during  centuries, 
on  which  entire  generations  have  labored,  to  which  thousands 
of  artists  have  devoted  their  lives  and  their  chisels,  and 
then  died  unknown.  So  die  the  poets  of  the  Renart." 

Most  of  the  authors  seem  to  have  been  clerics,  only  three 
of  whom  (authors  of  the  sixteenth,  twelfth,  and  ninth 
branches)  are  known— Pierre  de  Saint-Cloud,  Richard  de 
Lison,  a  Norman  trouvere  and  an  abbot  of  La  Croiz  in  Brie : 

Tins  prestres  de  la  Croiz  en  Brie 
A  mis  son  estude  et  s'entende 
A  fere  une  novele  branche 
De  Renart  qui  tant  sot  de  gauche.1 

1  Louis  XI,  the  greatest  tyrant,  abolished  serfdom. 
1  A  priest  of  La  Croiz  in  Brie  employed  his  learning  and  intelligence  in 
making  a  new  version  of  Renart  which  knew  so  many  tricks. 

41 


In  these  poems  we  are  introduced  to  animals  with  human 
characters — some  of  which  bear  artificial  names  and  others 
the  names  in  familiar  spech.  To  begin  with  Renart:  this  is 
the  animal  known  in  French  as  renard  (fox),  but  which  the 
Middle  Ages  knew  as  goupil.  Renart  was  a  proper  name 
used  by  the  poets,  and  the  poems  became  so  popular  that 
Renart  was  substituted  for  the  true  or  primitive  one.  In  all 
these  poems  the  goupil  appears  under  the  name  of  Renart — 
together  with  the  wolf,  Ysengrin;  the  lion,  Noble;  the  bear, 
Brun;  the  cock,  Chantecler;  the  leopard,  Firapel;  the  stag, 
Brichemer;  the  ass,  Bernart;  the  cat,  Tyber;  the  vulture, 
Escoffle;  the  badger,  Grimbert;  the  monkey,  Cointeriaux; 
the  sheep,  Belin;  etc.,  nearly  all,  beginning  with  Ysengrin, 
the  victims  of  the  astute  Renart.  This  ingenious  transfor- 
mation of  individualizing  the  heroes  and  giving  them  proper 
names  is  supposed  to  have  originated  in  Northern  France  in 
the  eleventh  century. 

The  most  important  branch  and  the  masterpiece  of  the 
collection  is  the  Judgment  of  Renart l  :  After  having  been 
summoned  thrice  in  vain,  Renart  is  brought  before  the 
tribunal  of  the  king  of  animals — Noble,  the  lion.  Accused 
of  many  misdemeanors,  this  intrepid  scorner  of  the  law  is 
convicted  and  condemned  to  die.  The  king  has  a  scaffold 
erected  to  punish  Renart  in  view  of  the  whole  court,  but  the 
sly  fellow  steps  before  the  throne  with  downcast  and  penitent 
mien,  confesses  all  his  sins  and  promises  as  a  penance  to  make 
a  pilgrimage  across  the  sea  to  the  Holy  Land.  The  king, 
greatly  touched,  grants  this  favor.  One  of  the  finest  episodes 
of  the  ancient  Renart  is  the  master  rascal's  adventures  with 
Chantecler,  the  cock.  In  this  encounter  wits  are  well  matched, 
and  Renart  learns  a  lesson. 

The  first  poems  or  branches  were  characterized  by  a 
natural  and  simple  style  with  nothing  of  the  satirical:  a 
pleasant  parody  of  society.  But  gradually  coarseness,  satire 
and  allegory  were  introduced  until  all  semblance  of  the  orig- 
inal idea  was  lost  and  incoherence  abounded.  Finally,  satire 
alone  under  a  thin  disguise  marked  the  last  sequels  in  Le 

1  From  this  branch  proceeded  the  poem  of  Reinaert  de  Vos  in  Flemish, 
which  was  the  source  of  Goethe's  Reineke  Fuchs. 

42 


FABLIAUX 

Couronnement  de  Renart,  second  half  of  the  thirteenth  cen- 
tury; Renart  le  Nouveau  by  Jacquemard  Gelee,  of  Lille,  in 
1288,  and  in  Renart  le  Contrefait  by  an  unknown  author 
from  Troyes  in  the  commencement  of  the  fourteenth  century. 
A  French  writer  calls  it  a  comic-heroic  epic  which  surpasses 
in  grandeur  and  power  the  works  of  ^Esop  and  of  Phasdrus, 
and  recalls  by  its  spontaneity  the  Indian  fable,  as  it  an- 
nounces in  parts  the  finesse  of  La  Fontaine. 

The  chansons  de  geste  were  always  sung  as  long  as  they 
flourished,  but  with  the  introduction  of  the  romance  in  verse 
and  prose  came  the  custom  of  recital.  Although  the  profes- 
sional conteurs  were  obliged  to  determine  upon  some  definite 
form  for  their  stories,  these  were  not  written  and  conse- 
quently they  were  lost  except  a  cante-fable  (or  chante-fable), 
Aucassin  et  Nicolette,  written  in  the  twelfth  century,  partly 
in  prose,  partly  in  verses  (hence  the  name)  of  seven  syllables 
with  assonance.  This  charming  and  idyllic  love  story  by  an 
unknown  author  said  to  have  lived  in  the  time  of  Louis  VII 
(1130),  has  been  admirably  translated  into  English  by 
Andrew  Lang.  There  are  two  other  notable  translations  by 
F.  W.  Bourdillon  and  Laurence  Housman.  "Whoever  the 
author  was,  he  was  a  true  poet  and  a  consummate  artist,  for 
he  wove  a  story  in  the  alternate  prose  and  verse  of  the  cante- 
fable  that  is  immortal  with  the  dewy  freshness  of  youth. 

The  story  tells  how  Aucassin,  the  only  son  of  Count  Garin 
of  Beaucaire,  falls  in  love  with  a  captive  Paynim  maiden, 
Nicolette,  who  had  been  sold  to  the  captain-at-arms  of  Beau- 
caire. The  father  vainly  tries  to  cure  his  son  of  his  infatua- 
tion, and  finally  throws  Aucassin  in  prison  and  determines 
to  have  Nicolette  made  away  with.  Nicolette  escapes  and 
builds  herself  a  bower  in  a  forest,  where  she  is  discovered  by 
Aucassin  after  his  release  from  prison.  Together  the  lovers 
take  flight  by  ship  and  are  borne  to  a  strange  country,  the 
country  of  the  King  of  Torelore.  But  the  Saracens  descend 
upon  Torelore  and  both  Aucassin  and  Nicolette  are  taken 
captive.  They  are  placed  on  different  ships  and  become 
separated  in  a  storm.  Aucassin  finally  makes  his  way  back 
to  Beaucaire  after  an  absence  of  three  years  and  finds  that  his 
parents  are  dead ;  so  he  succeeds  his  father  as  Count  of  Beau- 
caire. 

43 


THE    HISTORY   OF    FRENCH   LITERATURE 

Nicolette  is  taken  to  Carthage,  and  is  discovered  to  be 
the  long-lost  daughter  of  the  reigning  king.  Her  father  tries 
to  marry  her  to  another  Paynim  king,  so  she  steals  away  and 
takes  up  her  abode  in  a  seaport  town.  After  a  time  she  dis- 
guises herself  as  a  harper  by  staining  her  face  and  attiring 
herself  in  male  garb.  With  viol  in  hand  she  sails  away  in 
a  ship,  and  after  much  wandering  comes  at  last  to  Provence 
and  makes  her  way  through  the  country  till  she  comes  to 
the  castle  of  Beaucaire.  In  the  disguise  of  the  harper  she 
sings  a  song  to  Aucassin  of  the  love  of  Aucassin  and  Nicolette, 
and  he  eagerly  questions  her,  for  he  has  never  ceased  to 
think  of  ' '  Nicolette,  ma  tres  douce  mie,  que  je  tant  aim. ' ' x 
He  is  then  told  all  about  the  adventures  of  Nicolette,  and  how 
she  was  a  daughter  of  the  King  of  Carthage.  Aucassin  begs 
the  supposed  harper  to  go  in  quest  of  her,  and  Nicolette 
promises  that  soon  she  will  bring  his  love  to  him.  She  rests 
for  eight  days,  removes  the  stain  from  her  face  and  clothes 
herself  in  rich  silks.  Then  she  sends  for  Aucassin,  and  the 
happily  united  lovers  fall  into  each  other's  arms  and  are 
wedded  on  the  following  day.  This  in  brief  is  one  of  the 
most  charming  stories  that  has  been  told  in  any  age. 

Such  are  the  tales  whose  origin,  according  to  Gaston  Paris, 
is  lost  in  the  buried  past  of  India — tales  lovely,  mocking,  shock- 
ing, simple,  complex ;  tales  proceeding  through  many  mediums 
from  the  fatherland  of  Buddha  to  the  world  of  Mohammed, 
thence  passing  westward  into  the  communities  of  Picardy 
and  France,  and  floating  with  the  current  of  popular  tradi- 
tion to  swell  the  ever-quickening  stream  of  literature. 

Many  of  the  fabliaux  are  concerned  with  persons  and 
themes  borrowed  from  ancient  literature :  we  meet  Narcissus, 
Pyramus,  and  Thisbe,  the  story  of  Aristotle.  The  authors 
of  most  of  these  stories  are  unknown.  The  names  of  certain 
writers  of  fabliaux  have  been  preserved — among  them  those 
of  Gautier  le  Long,  Jean  Bodel,  Jacques  of  Baisieux,  Jean 
the  Gaul  of  Aubespierre,  and  Rutebeuf,  one  of  the  most 
talented  and  versatile  writers  of  the  thirteenth  century  who 
wrote  a  series  of  fables  satirizing  the  times.  Like  the  epic 
song,  like  the  lyric  poems  of  the  South,  the  fabliaux  have  had 
their  European  influence— an  influence  just  as  great  as  that 

1  Nicolette,  my  sweet  lady,  whom  I  love  so  well. 
44 


FABLIAUX 

of  the  lyrics  and  the  epics,  principally  in  Italy,  Germany, 
and  England:  Boccaccio,  Ariosto,  Heinrich  Glichezare,  and 
Chaucer  are  among  those  who  borrowed  from  this  treasure 
lore.  This  genre  of  literature  disappeared  in  the  fifteenth 
century  and  its  place  was  taken  by  the  novel  and  the  farce. 
But  through  the  Italians  it  returned  to  France  and  was  re- 
newed in  the  works  of  Rabelais,  Marguerite  de  Navarre,  the 
incomparable  La  Fontaine  and  others.  Petit  de  Julleville 
says  the  thirteenth  and  fourteenth  centuries  belong  to  the 
fabliau,  and  the  fifteenth  and  sixteenth  centuries  to  the 
farce;  the  second  was  but  a  transformation  of  the  first,  put 
into  dialogue,  for  the  principle  of  the  two  genres  is  per- 
ceptibly the  same. 

Popular  poetry  was  not  always  narrative.  Often  it  was 
didactic  or  satirical;  or,  in  the  absence  of  any  strongly 
defined  character,  it  was,  for  lack  of  a  better  definition,  what 
is  commonly  called  "light"  poetry.  Again,  the  people  of  the 
Middle  Ages  were  very  fond  of  knowledge  and  instruction, 
and  of  putting  into  a  single  book  all  they  knew  and  all  they 
wished  to  teach  others.  The  poems  so  compiled  were  called 
Bibles — a  title  meant  to  indicate,  it  would  seem,  that  they 
contained  nothing  but  truths.  The  Bible  of  Guyot  de  Provins 
is  a  universal  satire,  but  is  particularly  directed  against  the 
pope,  the  cardinals,  and  the  higher  clergy.  Guyot  is  the 
"Rabelais  of  the  thirteenth  century,  but  with  less  talent." 
The  Bible  of  Hugues  de  Berzy  belongs  in  the  same  class,  but 
it  is  less  satirical. 

"Poetry  of  circumstance"  in  the  Middle  Ages  was  vari- 
ously entitled  Sayings  (Dits),  Disputes,  Debates,  Disputa- 
tions, Battle,  Legacies  (Legs),  Testaments,  Reveries,  Medleys 
(Fatraisies) .  The  Testaments  or  Legacies  begin  at  the  end 
of  the  thirteenth  century.  These  are  curious  compositions  in 
which  the  poet,  representing  himself  as  dying,  makes  ironical 
bequests  to  the  objects  of  his  irony.  Such  is  the  form  which 
the  so-called  Memoires  assume  in  the  Middle  Ages. 

As  all  human  creations  are  evolved,  and  do  not  spring 
complete  from  the  head  of  one  man — as  Pallas  Minerva 
from  the  head  of  Jove;  so  the  unique  Roman  de  la  Rose 
had  a  prehistoric  existence  in  the  French  literary  conscious- 
ness before  Guillaume  de  Lorris  gave  it  its  final  form,  and 

45 


THE    HISTORY   OP    FRENCH   LITERATURE 

Jean  de  Meung  supplied  the  sequel.  To  this  extraordinary 
product  of  the  French  mind — the  Romance  of  the  Rose — Gus- 
tave  Lanson  has  devoted  a  preliminary  chapter  dealing  with 
its  place  in  didactic  and  moral  literature. 

Between  the  periods  of  lyric  and  of  narrative  poetry,  there 
arises  a  considerable  body  of  didactic  verse  of  a  truly  moral 
character.  In  view  of  the  national  French  nature  as  ex- 
pressed in  the  middle  classes,  it  could  not  well  be  otherwise. 
French  literature  could  not  remain  indefinitely  isolated  from 
serious  reflection  and  philosophic  thought,  or  indefinitely 
given  over  to  haphazard  sensation  and  the  caprices  of  the 
imagination  and  fancy.  The  spirit  of  the  laity  could  not  re- 
main always  closed  to  the  science  of  the  clerics.  At  first 
the  laity  were  strangers  to  that  powerful  movement  of  ideas 
proceeding  from  the  schools  and  convents  from  the  eleventh 
to  the  fourteenth  centuries — a  movement  chiefly  registered 
in  the  great  Latin  and  scholastic  thirteenth-century  works, 
the  Speculum  Majus  of  Vincent  de  Beauvais,  the  Summa 
Theologia  of  St.  Thomas  Aquinas,  the  Opus  Majus  of  Roger 
Bacon.  The  auditors  of  Roland  and  of  Benart  did  not  trou- 
ble themselves  much  about  universal  ideas  and  principles. 
Their  religion  caused  them  to  fast  on  Lenten  days,  and  to 
open  their  purses  to  the  church  and  to  the  poor;  but  it  did 
not  inspire  them  to  reflect  on  the  Trinity  or  on  the  relation 
between  soul  and  body.  They  were  children  who  loved  to 
listen  only  to  stories.  But  gradually  the  curiosity  of  these 
children  awoke.  Kings,  princes,  and  lords,  having  received, 
for  that  time,  a  superior  education,  observed  the  popular 
interest  in  these  clerical  studies;  the  clerics,  on  their  part, 
wishing  to  extend  the  sphere  of  their  influence,  communi- 
cated something  of  the  science  which  until  then  the  Latin 
language  had  kept  hidden  from  the  knowledge  of  the  pop- 
ulace. In  some  way,  learned  literatures  began  to  filter  into 
popular  literature.  From  the  twelfth  century  on  we  see  all 
kinds  of  didactic  works  (didactic,  of  course,  in  the  unscien- 
tific manner  of  the  medieval,  though  erudite  mind)  finding 
their  way  into  French— works  on  natural  history,  physics, 
medicine,  morality,  philosophy;  books  on  cookery  and  eti- 
quette. 

Among  the  most  ancient  scientific  writings  in  the  vulgar 

46 


FABLIAUX 

language  we  find  the  Bestiaires  (from  the  Latin  bestia, 
beast),  the  Lapidaires  (from  the  Latin  lapis,  idis,  precious 
stone),  and  the  Volucraires  (from  the  Latin  volucris,  bird) 
— compilations  of  miraculous  and  puerile  stories  concerning 
beasts  and  birds  and  precious  stones,  which  disclose  a 
"  science  "  more  fantastic,  more  stupendous,  than  all  the 
adventures  of  the  Knights  of  the  Round  Table— productions 
all  the  more  extravagant  because  the  description  of  natural 
things  is  mixed  with  allegorical  moralities.  The  Middle  Ages 
was  the  epoch,  par  excellence,  of  allegory;  in  each  animal, 
the  people  seemed  to  see  the  vices  and  virtues  of  men,  and 
to  point  a  moral  in  their  descriptions  of  them.  The  two  most 
celebrated  Bestiaires  of  French  literature  are  the  Bestiaire 
d' Amour,  of  Richard  de  Fournival  of  Amiens,  and  the  Besti- 
aire divin  of  Guillaume,  cleric  of  Normandy.  The  Lapi- 
daires in  the  Middle  Ages  were  treatises  on  the  pretended 
curative  or  preservative  qualities  of  precious  stones.  The 
most  popular  of  the  Lapidaires  was  that  of  Marbode,  Bishop 
of  Rennes  (twelfth  century),  who  took  his  material  from  a 
Greek  original,  and  whose  work  was  translated  several  times 
into  French  in  the  twelfth  and  fourteenth  centuries.  A 
French  critic  tells  us  that  the  study  of  these  three  forms  of 
literature  with  their  symbolical  allegories  is  absolutely  nec- 
essary for  a  comprehension  of  the  Middle  Ages.  Other  Lapi- 
daires and  other  Bestiaires  followed,  attesting  the  success 
of  the  literary  genre  and  the  scientific  ineptitude  of  the 
readers. 

From  the  twelfth  century  the  lay  public  was  enabled  to 
read,  in  Anglo-Norman,  Boethius's  De  Consolatione — a  fund- 
amental work  of  scholastic  science,  and  a  classic  commented 
upon  in  the  schools  up  to  the  time  of  the  Renaissance.  Later, 
Aristotle's  Ethics  was  translated.  The  principal  parts  of 
the  Bible  and  the  evangelistic  works  were  also  translated, 
or  imitated,  first  in  verse,  and  then  in  prose ;  and  to  such  an 
extent  that  the  church  was  sometimes  alarmed  to  observe 
the  sources  of  her  dogma  too  liberally  opened  to  the  bold 
ignorance  of  the  laity.  The  spirit  of  lay  society  was  fur- 
ther modified  by  the  sermons  in  vulgar  or  popular  language 
delivered  from  the  pulpits,  from  the  ninth  and  tenth  cen- 
turies. The  Debat  de  I'Ame  et  du  Corps  (Debate  of  the 

47 


THE    HISTORY   OF    FRENCH   LITERATURE 

Body  and  the  Soul),  which  is  found  both  in  Latin  and  in 
French  after  the  first  third  of  the  twelfth  century,  affords 
a  general  view  of  Christian  morality,  with  its  vigorous  ar- 
raignment of  the  body  as  an  instrument  for  the  debasement 
and  damnation  of  the  soul.  Moral  literature,  as  one  may 
easily  understand,  often  turns  to  satire;  and  the  exceedingly 
vivid  description  of  the  actual  world,  and  of  man's  ordinary 
occupations  and  inclinations,  sometimes  found  in  these  moral 
works,  lends  them  a  peculiar  flavor.  The  thirteenth  century 
was  also  the  century  of  allegories.  Allegory  in  the  litera- 
ture of  the  Middle  Ages  presents  itself  under  three  aspects: 
First,  as  a  philosophical  method  of  interpreting  the  phenomena 
of  nature;  second,  as  the  abstracting  process  of  the  mind 
which  embodies  itself  in  the  rhetorical  figure  of  personifica- 
tion ;  third,  as  a  specific  form  of  poetry.1  In  this  species  of 
literature  distinction  was  attained  by  Raoul  de  Houdan, 
with  his  La  Voie  du  Paradis2  (The  Way  to  Paradise),  his 
Ailes  de  la  prouesse*  (Wings  of  Prowess),  and  his  strange 
Songe  d'Enfer  (Dream  of  Hell),  wherein  he  feasts  with  good 
appetite  at  the  table  of  Lucifer  in  company  with  fat  usurers 
and  hoary  sinners. 

Allegory  reached  its  greatest  popularity  in  the  famous 
Roman  de  la  Rose,  an  allegorical  and  didactic  poem  inspired 
by  Ovid's  Metamorphoses  and  his  De  Arte  amandi.  The 
author  in  the  first  part  of  the  poem  calls  upon  Macrobius 
to  witness  that  dreams  are  not  always  deceptive.4  The 
Roman  de  la  Rose  is  the  "  art  of  love  put  into  action  and 
inclosed  in  the  setting  of  a  dream."  In  spite  of  its  conti- 
nuity as  fiction,  it  is  really  two  distinct  works  which  belong 
neither  to  the  same  time  nor  to  the  same  author ;  nor  do  they 
breathe  the  same  spirit.  Of  the  22,817  verses  as  found  in 
Fr.  Michel's  edition,  the  first  4,669  were  composed  about 
1237  by  a  young  cleric  of  Orleans,  Guillaume  de  Lorris;  the 

1  See  Courthope's  History  of  English  Poetry. 

2  Disputed  by  F.  Zenker  (Ueber  die  Echtheit  zweier  dem  Raoul  von 
Houdenc  zugeschriebener  Werke). 

8  Called  also  Le  Roman  des  AUes. 

» Alluding  to  Macrobius's  Commentary  of  Cicero's  Dream  of  Scipio 
(Commentarius  ex  Cicerone  in  somnium  Scipionis,  generally  known  as  In 
somnium  Scipionis  expositio). 

48 


FABLIAUX 

remaining  verses  were  written  some  forty  years  later  by  an- 
other cleric  of  Orleans,  Jean  Clopinel  de  Meung.  There  is 
nothing  more  unlike  indeed  than  the  two  poems  and  the  two 
poets.  The  one  poet,  a  delicate  spirit,  ingenious  and  full 
of  mannerisms,  wrote  to  please  polite  society;  the  other — a 
sharp,  violent,  cynical  genius — hurled  stinging  words  at 
the  superstitions  and  beliefs  of  the  times.  Guillaume  de 
Lorris  sets  forth  the  chivalrous,  religious  and  sentimental 
mysticism  of  the  preceding  age.  He  sums  up  with  preten- 
tious erudition  all  the  amorous  metaphysics  of  his  time  as 
the  beginning  of  his  poem  announces: 

Ci  est  le  Roman  de  la  Rose 

Oil  1'Art  d'Amors  est  tote  enclose.1 

The  second  part  of  the  Roman  de  la  Rose  announces  in  its 
spirit  the  arrival  of  a  new  society.  A  distinct  work  of  its 
own,  it  is  yet  less  a  continuation  than  a  counterpart  of  that 
of  de  Lorris.  From  the  midst  of  insipid  sentimentalities 
there  proceeded  the  liveliest,  the  boldest,  and  sometimes  the 
most  brutal  invectives  against  the  times.  It  is  no  longer 
the  art  of  love  but  an  encyclopedia  of  bitter  satire.  The 
bizarre  mixture  of  mystic  tenderness,  chivalrous  gallantry 
and  love,  is  followed  by  an  overflow  of  unbridled  sensuality, 
a  seditious  emancipation  of  the  flesh  from  the  spirit,  in  which 
Jean  de  Meung  with  scholastic  subtlety  launched  forth  into 
political  and  satirical  dissertations  against  beliefs,  supersti- 
tions and  the  monachal  institutions.  The  love  idyl  became 
a  political  pamphlet.  The  women  he  held  in  the  profoundest 
contempt  and  heaped  most  cruel  insults  upon  them  with 
bold  and  cynical  expression. 

The  scene  of  the  poem  unfolds  in  a  dream  and  in  spring- 
time— a  double  allegory  which  in  itself  reveals  the  spirit  of 
the  whole  work.  The  contents  may  be  summed  up  briefly  as 
follows :  the  poet  or  author  who  calls  himself  Amant  (lover) 
dreams  that  he  sees  a  transparent  palace  surrounded  by  trees 
and  beautiful  gardens,  illumined  by  a  roseate  light — the 

1  This  is  the  story  of  the  Rose, 

Where  the  art  of  love  is  all  inclosed. 
5  49 


THE    HISTORY   OF    FRENCH   LITERATURE 

dwelling  of  Deduit  (Love's  Pleasure).  The  gate  is  opened  for 
him  by  Oy sense  (Idleness)  and  he  meets  a  series  of  impalpa- 
ble and  very  symbolic  phantoms:  Beaute  (Beauty),  Doux- 
Regard  (Sweet  glances),  Richesse  (Riches),  Dieu  d' Amour 
(God  of  love),  Jeunesse  (Youth),  etc.  In  this  magic  garden 
Amant  sees  on  a  rosebush  a  Rose  of  fascinating  beauty,  sur- 
rounded, however,  by  thorny  hedges  which  he  could  never 
have  penetrated  without  the  aid  of  Bel-Accueil  (Good-Recep- 
tion). Finally,  he  succeeds  with  the  help  of  Bel-Accueil  in 
kissing  the  Rose,  for  which  the  Rose  and  Bel-Accueil  are 
incarcerated  and  Amant  is  in  despair.  Here  Guillaume  de 
Lorris  stops  and  fifty  years  later  Jean  de  Meung  continues 
and  introduces  two  new  characters:  Dame  Nature  and  Faux- 
Semblant  (False  Appearance).  A  third  actor,  Dame  Raison 
— Reason — already  employed  by  de  Lorris,  but  now  enlarged 
and  transformed,  occupies  likewise  a  large  place  in  this  poem. 
Raison  consoles  Amant  and  Ami  shows  him  how  to  reach 
the  goal.  (Here  Jean  de  Meung  holds  dissertations  on  friend- 
ship, the  golden  age,  and  the  origins  of  society.)  This 
road  is  called  Trop-Donner  (Give  too  much)  and  Amant  can- 
not pass.  (Discourse  on  the  infidelity  of  woman,  and  against 
marriage.  Jean  de  Meung  advocated  woman's  rights  and 
free  love.)  Now  comes  Dieu  d' Amour  with  his  twenty-four 
companions:  Noblesse  de  Cwur  (Nobility  of  Heart),  Beaute, 
Jeunesse,  etc.,  and  these  supported  by  Nature  and  Genius 
take  possession  of  the  tower  where  the  Rose  is  imprisoned. 
Amant  plucks  the  Rose — then  day  breaks  and  the  poet  awakes. 
In  this  latter  part,  Jean  de  Meung  launches  forth  into 
diatribes  against  the  monks  and  celibacy.  The  poem  concludes 
with  the  following  verse  : 

Explicit  li  Rommans  la  Rose; 
Oil  1'art  d 'Amors  est  toute  enclose: 
Nature  rit,  si  com  moi  semble, 
Quant  hie  et  haec  joingnent  ensemble.1 

1  Here  ends  the  Romance  of  the  Rose, 
In  which  the  whole  art  of  Love  is  inclosed; 
Nature  smiles,  if  she  resembles  me, 
When  this  and  that  come  together. 
(Love)  (Nature) 
50 


FABLIAUX 

Lenient  writes  of  the  Roman  de  la  Rose:  this  artificial 
product  of  the  French  mind — laden  with  illuminations  some- 
times graceful,  but  often  shocking  and  contradictory — pre- 
served its  popularity  and  its  splendor  till  the  renaissance  of 
letters.  From  Homer  to  Dante,  no  poem  has  so  aroused 
the  interest  of  men;  none  has  caused  more  controversies 
and  commentaries.  To  what,  then,  did  it  owe  this  singular 
vogue?  First  of  all,  to  love— for  love  was  the  dominant 
passion  in  the  Middle  Ages;  and,  in  the  second  place,  to 
satire.  To  graft  satire  on  gallantry,  Juvenal  on  Ovid,  is 
a  bizarre  idea,  without  doubt,  yet  it  gratified  the  two  most 
prevalent  French  passions,  slander  and  love.  Nature,  in 
'this  poem,  is  no  less  boastful  and  learned  than  Reason.  If 
she  has  read  history  less,  she  knows,  on  the  other  hand,  the 
secret  of  things.  She  takes  it  upon  herself  to  explain  to  us 
the  origin  of  the  world,  the  movement  of  the  stars,  the  suc- 
cession of  animal  life.  All  these  revelations— compounded 
of  reminiscences  of  Utopian  ideas,  agitated  in  the  schools  of 
Greece  and  Alexandria,  and  overlaid  with  the  biblical  tradi- 
tions— produced  a  marvelous  effect  upon  the  contemporary 
imagination.  They  unquestionably  confirmed  the  notion  that 
Jean  de  Meung— the  most  learned  man  of  his  century,  even 
in  the  judgment  of  the  great  Gerson1 — had  hidden  away 
in  his  work  the  secret  of  the  philosopher's  stone.  This  free- 
thinker of  the  fourteenth  century  refuted  popular  opinion  on 
the  influence  of  the  comets.  He  did  not  believe  that  their 
appearance  announced  the  death  of  a  prince  or  some  other 
great  personage — for  the  body  of  a  king,  when  he  is  dead, 
did  not  differ  from  that  of  a  cart  driver : 

Car  leur  core  ne  vaut  une  pome 
Plus  que  li  cors  d'un  charetier 
Ou  d'un  clerc  ou  d'un  escuyer.* 

Three  centuries  later,  in  the  reign  of  Louis  XVI,  Bayle, 
writing  his  Thoughts  on  the  comet  and  ridiculing  popular 

1  Jean  Charlier,  called  Jean  de  Gerson  (1353-1429),  theologian  and  chan- 
cellor of  the  University  of  Paris. 

1  For  their  corpses  are  not  worth  one  apple  more  than  the  body  of  a  carter 
or  of  a  cleric  or  of  a  groom. 

51 


THE    HISTORY    OF    FRENCH   LITERATURE 

prejudice,  performed  an  act  of  boldness  to  which  the  in- 
timidated genius  of  Bernouilli  humbly  bowed.  That  daring, 
violent,  even  cynical  naturalism,  bravely  diffused  through 
the  work  of  Jean  de  Meung,  connects  him,  despite  differ- 
ence of  time,  with  the  philosophers  of  the  eighteenth  cen- 
tury. In  this  respect  one  may  consider  him  as  a  true  ances- 
tor of  Jean  Jacques  Rousseau;  like  him,  he  is  an  apostle 
of  instincts  and  passion;  like  him,  he  plies  the  biting  anger 
of  the  misanthrope,  swells  with  the  rebellious  aspirations  of 
the  tribune,  the  noisy  and  inflamed  rhetoric  of  the  pam- 
phleteer; like  him,  finally,  he  mingles  with  the  recital  of  a 
romantic  adventure  those  long,  moralizing  dissertations  in 
which  Nature  and  Reason  delight,  and  which  Saint-Preux 
and  Julie  in  Jean  Jacques's  Nouvelle  Helo'ise  do  not  disdain. 
The  political  boldness  of  Rousseau's  Contrat  Social,  the  men- 
acing doubts  of  the  Discours  sur  I'inegalite  des  Conditions 
are  already  contained  in  embryo  in  the  Roman  de  la  Rose. 
The  origins  of  society,  of  royal  power,  of  tithes  and  taxes, 
of  property  itself— all  is  put  in  question  by  Jean  de  Meung. 
Voltaire  seemed  to  shake  the  throne  of  Louis  XV  with  his 
famous  verse.  "  Le  premier  qui  fut  roi  fut  un  soldat  heu- 
reux1  ("  the  first  who  was  king  was  a  fortunate  soldier  "). 
Jean  de  Meung  is  quite  differently  energetic  and  brutal  in  his 
attitude  toward  royalty,  of  which  he  is,  however,  the  servant 
and  ally: 

Ung  grant  vilain  entr'eus  eslurent, 
Le  plus  ossu  de  quan  quil  furent 
Le  plus  corsu  et  le  greignor. 
Si  le  firent  prince  et  seignor. 
Gil  jura  qu'adroit  les  tendroit 
Et  que  lor  loges  deffendroit.1 

This  audacious  pamphleteer,  this  friend  of  the  University, 
this  enemy  of  popes  and  monks,  wore  himself  the  frock  of 

1  The  allusion  being  to  Merowig,  first  Merovingian  monarch,  who  de- 
rived his  kingship  from  the  people. 

2  They  elected  a  tall  villain  (rustic)  among  them,  the  boniest  that  there 
was,  the  stoutest  and  the  tallest,  and  made  him  prince  and  lord.     He 
swore  that  he  would  skillfully  protect  them,  and  would  defend  their 
dwellings. 

52 


FABLIAUX 

the  preaching  friar;  he  lived  rich,  powerful,  tranquil,  hon- 
ored; and  was  buried  with  great  pomp  in  the  cloister  of  the 
Jacobins. 

Unfortunately,  says  Lanson,  Jean  de  Meung  has  not, 
like  Dante,  created  a  form  which  would  have  insured  to  his 
thought  the  eternity  of  beauty.  He  failed  to  be  a  great 
artist.  The  most  apparent  and  usual  beauties  of  art  are 
wanting  in  his  work;  he  cares  nothing  about  the  science  of 
composition,  proportion,  propriety.  This  Roman  de  la 
Rose  is  a  jumble,  a  chaos,  a  strange  tissue  of  the  most  un- 
related subjects.  Digressions,  parentheses  of  five  hundred 
verses,  cost  him  no  qualms.  The  work  is  a  sequence  of  pieces 
which  cling  together  as  they  may,  and  which  follow  each 
other  sometimes  without  joining.  Yet  in  spite  of  its  in- 
coherence, the  entire  poem  gives  the  impression  of  something 
vigorous  and  powerful.  This  buoyancy  of  ideas  and  argu- 
ments, poured  forth  incessantly  in  eighteen  thousand  verses, 
without  pause,  without  rest;  the  fervor  and  flow  of  style — 
exact,  incisive,  efficacious ;  the  precision  of  demonstration ;  the 
most  complicated  and  subtle  exposition;  the  robust  alacrity 
with  which  the  poet  carries  an  enormous  burden  of  facts  and 
reasonings ;  the  movement  which,  in  spite  of  inevitable  languor 
here  and  there,  imposes  upon  the  whole  the  confused  yet  fruit- 
ful mass  of  scholastic  erudition  and  boldly  original  inventions 
— all  this  imparts  to  the  work  a  somewhat  vulgar  force  which, 
nevertheless,  is  not  without  beauty.  He  closes  worthily  the 
Middle  Ages  with  a  masterpiece  which  restores  them  and 
destroys  them  at  the  same  time.  By  his  philosophy,  which 
consists  essentially  of  the  identity  and  the  sovereignty  of 
Nature  and  Reason,  he  is  the  first  link  of  the  chain  connect- 
ing Rabelais,  Montaigne,  Moliere — to  which  Voltaire  also  is 
attached,  and  even,  in  certain  respects,  Boileau. 

The  sphere  of  the  influence  of  the  Roman  de  la  Rose  may 
be  measured  by  the  vast  literature  which  has  been  amassed 
on  this  production  in  France  and  in  all  countries  where  Ro- 
mance literature  is  cherished.  There  are  more  than  one 
hundred  and  fifty  manuscripts  of  this  allegory,  sixty-seven  of 
which  are  in  the  National  Library  in  Paris.  It  was  the  sub- 
ject of  innumerable  attacks :  Gerson,  one  of  the  most  bitter 
denouncers,  wrote  one  hundred  years  after  its  completion: 

53 


THE    HISTORY   OF    FRENCH   LITERATURE 

Arrachez,  hommes  sages,  arrachez  ce  livre  dangereux  des  mains  de 
vos  fils  et  de  vos  filles.  Si  je  possedais  un  seul  exemplaire  du  Roman 
de  la  Rose,  et  qu'il  fut  unique,  valut-il  mille  livres  d'argent — je  le 
brulerais  phi  tot  que  de  le  vendre  pour  le  publier  tel  qu'il  est.  Si  je 
savais  que  1'auteur  n'eut  pas  fait  penitence,  je  ne  prierais  jamais  pour 
lui,  pas  plus  que  pour  Judas;  et  les  personnes  qui  lisent  son  livre  a 
mauvais  dessein,  augmentent  ses  tourments,  soit  qu'il  souffre  en  enfer, 
soit  qu'il  g&nisse  en  purgatoire.1 

At  the  same  time  Christine  de  Pisan  defended  her  sex  against 
the  calumnies  of  Jean  de  Meung  in  her  Lettres  sur  le  Roman 
de  la  Rose.  But  the  poem  found  its  defenders  in  the  learned 
doctors  and  magistrates  of  high  rank.  Its  popularity  was 
so  great  that  the  priests  cited  quotations  from  it  just  as  they 
did  from  the  Bible.  When  printing  was  introduced  it  was 
published  several  times,  and  Marot  made  a  modernized  edi- 
tion which  was  popular  in  the  sixteenth  and  seventeenth 
centuries.  Later  editions  were  made  by  Meon  in  1814  and 
F.  Michel  in  1864. 

Gaston  Paris  writes:  For  a  long  time,  and  this  was  a 
grave  error,  the  Roman  de  la  Rose  was  regarded  as  an  open- 
ing in  French  literature;  in  reality  it  opened  one  period 
and  closed  another.  The  spontaneous,  unconscious,  almost 
infantine  dream  of  the  Middle  Ages  ended,  or  only  reap- 
peared in  transient  intervals;  modern  literature,  whose  es- 
sential elements  are  philosophical  thought  and  knowledge 
of  antiquity  made  its  debut. 

1  Tear,  wise  men,  tear  this  dangerous  book  from  the  hands  of  your  sons 
and  daughters.  If  I  possessed  only  one  copy  of  the  Romance  of  the  Rose, 
and  it  was  the  only  one,  valued  at  a  thousand  livres,  I  would  sooner  burn 
it  than  sell  it  for  publication,  such  as  it  is.  If  I  knew  that  the  author  had 
not  done  penance,  I  would  no  more  pray  for  him  than  for  Judas;  and  the 
persons  who  read  his  book  with  an  evil  object  increase  his  torments  whether 
he  suffer  in  hell  or  groan  in  purgatory. 


CHAPTER   IV 

CHRONICLES  AND   HISTORY 

THE  first  interesting  chronicle  in  France  was  written 
by  Gregoire  de  Tours.  The  famous  Chronicle  of  Turpin, 
a  legendary  history  of  Charlemagne  and  Roland  also  in 
Latin  dates  from  the  eleventh  century.  It  was  falsely  at- 
tributed to  Archbishop  Turpin,  but  recent  researches  proved 
that  the  authors  were  two  monks  in  Spain.  Although  a 
fable  and  full  of  anachronisms  this  history  was  considered 
a  great  authority  and  inspired  the  songs  of  many  of  the 
trouveres. 

Suger— Minister  under  Louis  VII  and  Abbot  of  Saint 
Denis— caused  to  be  gathered  in  his  abbey  all  the  known 
Latin  chronicles  that  had  been  collected  in  the  first  centuries  of 
national  history,  together  with  all  the  registers  in  which  every 
convent  transcribed  the  facts  of  local  and  general  history. 
With  these  documents  as  a  basis,  the  great  Chronicles  of 
France  or  Chronicles  of  Saint  Denis  were  compiled.  They  be- 
gin by  telling  that  the  French  are  descended  from  the 
Trojans — Francus,  son  of  Hector,  having  come  to  establish 
himself  in  Gaul,  with  a  colony,  at  the  same  time  that  his  com- 
patriot, ^Eneas,  settled  in  Italy  and  became  the  progenitor-  of 
the  Romans.  The  history  of  the  earlier  succeeding  centuries 
is  treated  somewhat  in  the  same  fashion,  and  when  the  editor 
had  the  choice  of  a  simple  narration  by  an  historian  or  the 
embellished  story  of  a  legend,  he  never  hesitated:  he  always 
chose  the  legend.  About  1174  Gamier  de  Pont-Sainte-Max- 
ence  wrote  the  Vie  de  Saint  Thomas  de  Cantorbery,  four 
years  after  the  hero's  death.  It  is  one  of  the  oldest  works 
written  in  the  language  of  the  Ile-de-France,  as  it  is  also 
one  of  the  most  remarkable  historical  poems  of  the  Middle 
Ages. 

55 


THE    HISTORY   OF    FRENCH   LITERATURE 

These  chronicles  mostly  written  in  Latin  and  relat- 
ing chiefly  to  foreign  events  were  not  therefore  typically 
French.  French  history  proper  dated  from  the  Crusades. 
The  events  which  took  place  in  the  Holy  Land  under  the 
French  Crusades,  were  of  necessity  recorded  and  trans- 
mitted to  the  people  in  France.  At  first  these  histories  were 
in  verse,  epic  form,  but  with  Villehardouin 's  nine  years' 
history  of  the  fourth  French  Crusade,  French  prose  history 
was  born.  Thenceforth  every  work  which  employed  epic 
verse  as  a  medium  for  historical  facts  was  accidental  and, 
as  it  were,  a  step  backward  in  the  development  of  this 
branch  of  literature.  Fourteenth-century  poems,  like  the 
Combat  des  Trente  1  (Combat  of  the  Thirty)  and  the  Life 
of  Bertrand  du  Guesclin  are  but  sterile  records  in  literary 
history. 

The  development  of  prose  during  four  centuries,  from  the 
twelfth  to  the  fifteenth,  is  strikingly  illustrated  by  a  typical 
historical  work  of  each  century:  Geoff  roi  de  Villehardouin 's 
De  la  Conquete  de  Constantinople,  the  oldest  French  histori- 
cal work;  Jean  de  Joinville's  Histoire  de  Saint-Louis;  Jean 
Froissart's  Chroniques;  and  Philippe  de  Commines'  Me- 
moires.  Geoffroi  de  Villehardouin,  born  at  the  Chateau  de 
Villehardouin  in  Champagne  about  1160,  was  at  first  Ma- 
rechal  of  Champagne  and  later  of  Roumelia.  His  Memoires 
are  the  account  of  that  extraordinary  expedition,  whose  object 
was  the  deliverance  of  the  Holy  Sepulchre,  and  which  resulted 
in  the  taking  of  Constantinople  and  the  establishment  of  a 
French  empire  in  the  East.  Villehardouin  was  the  real  pro- 
moter of  the  crusade.  His  works  at  first  were  influenced  by 
the  chansons  de  geste  in  regard  to  form  and  color,  but  later 
he  definitely  disengaged  history  from  the  epic  which  had 
at  that  time  degenerated  into  romance.  He  took  hold  of 
living  events  of  which  he  himself  had  been  an  eyewitness, 
and  recorded  them  without  recourse  to  his  imagination.  The 

1  A  poem  on  the  battle  fought  in  1350  at  Ploermel  between  thirty 
Bretons  and  thirty  English,  under  the  command  of  Beaumanoir.  Of  its 
three  hundred  verses  by  an  unknown  poet,  a  clever  imitator  of  the  old 
trouveres,  this  famous  verse  has  been  retained: 

Bois  ton  sang,  Beaumanoir,         Drink  your  own  blood,  Beaumanoir, 
La  soif  te  passera.  To  relieve  your  thirst. 

56 


CHRONICLES    AND    HISTORY 

details,  precise  and  characteristic,  are  an  invaluable  study  of 
the  manners  and  customs  of  the  epoch. 

Nearly  a  century  elapsed  between  the  memoirs  of  Ville- 
hardouin  and  those  of  Joinville,  during  which  French  cul- 
ture was  given  a  decided  impetus  by  a  great  king  and  a 
great  pope,  Louis  IX  and  Innocent  III.  Jean  de  Joinville  was 
born  about  1224  at  the  castle  of  Joinville,  Chalons-sur-Marne, 
and  educated  at  the  courts  of  Provins  and  Troyes — two  old 
cities  of  Champagne,  at  that  time  the  abiding  place  of  the 
masters  of  the  Oaie  Science.1  At  the  call  of  the  King  of 
France,  Joinville  sold  all  his  property,  equipped  ten  cav- 
aliers and  accompanied  Louis  IX  on  his  first  crusade.  After 
the  death  of  Louis,  Joinville  lived  to  see  two  succeeding 
reigns  and  the  beginning  of  a  third.  It  was  at  the  request  of 
the  queen,  wife  of  Louis  le  Hutin,  that  he  dictated  his 
Memoires,  when  he  was  more  than  ninety  years  old.  He  died 
in  the  beginning  of  the  fourteenth  century.  Nisard  writes: 
"  Joinville  has  in  common  with  Villehardouin  the  character 
of  a  Christian  knight  :  the  courage,  the  straightforwardness, 
the  virtues  of  chivalry,  without  its  illusions — a  simple  faith, 
free  from  clerical  rule  and  without  theological  refinement. 
Joinville 's  disputations  with  the  founder  of  the  Sorbonne, 
in  the  presence  of  Louis  IX,  who  acted  as  judge  between  his 
seneschal  and  his  chaplain,  carry  us  to  regions  of  thought  and 
meditation  far  beyond  that  epoch  of  action  and  adventure." 

The  foundation  of  the  aforementioned  Sorbonne  was  an 
event  of  great  significance  in  its  influence  on  French  litera- 
ture and  learning.  It  was  a  famous  school  of  theology 
founded  by  Robert  de  Sorbon  2  in  1250,  as  a  branch  of  the 
University  of  Paris,  to  assist  poor  theological  students.  The 
college  became  one  of  the  most  celebrated  in  the  world  and 
still  exists  as  such.  Before  the  revolution  of  1789— during 
the  progress  of  which  it  was  suppressed — the  Sorbonne  was 

1  Oaie  Science,  or  Gai  Savoir,  is  the  name  given  to  the  poetry  of  the 
trouveres  and  troubadours. 

1  Robert  de  Sorbon,  or  Sorbonne,  was  born  at  Sorbon,  a  little  village 
near  Rheims,  in  1201.  After  receiving  his  degree  as  Doctor  of  Theology 
in  Paris,  he  devoted  himself  to  lectures,  and  acquired  so  great  a  repu- 
tation that  St.  Louis  wished  to  hear  him,  and  eventually  chose  him  for 
his  confessor. 

57 


THE    HISTORY   OF    FRENCH   LITERATURE 

one  of  the  four  divisions  of  the  Faculty  of  theology  in 
Paris.  It  produced  so  many  able  theologians  that  its  name 
was  given  to  the  entire  faculty,  and  the  students  took  the  title 
of  Doctors  and  Bachelors  of  the  Sorbonne,  even  though  they 
were  not  members  of  this  college.  Upon  the  reconstruction 
of  the  University  under  Napoleon  I,  the  building  erected  for 
it  by  Richelieu,  and  still  called  the  Sorbonne,  was  ceded  to 
the  city  of  Paris,  on  condition  that  the  theological  faculty  in 
connection  with  the  faculties  of  science  and  belles-lettres 
should  remove  there. 

The  University  of  Paris  *  had  been  founded  by  bulls  of 
Innocent  III,  in  the  years  1208,  1209,  1213,  by  the  reunion  of 
the  Schools  of  Logic  of  la  Montagne  Sainte  Genevieve,  and 
the  School  of  Theology  of  the  Cloisters  of  Notre  Dame ;  so  that 
it  had  actually  existed  before  its  official  foundation,  and  by 
this  foundation  it  was  simply  more  strongly  concentrated  and 
organized.  The  schools  of  Paris  were,  since  the  eleventh 
century,  extremely  flourishing,  and  were  a  light  for  the  whole 
of  Europe.  After  the  year  1208,  the  University  was  con- 
stituted in  a  regular  manner.  It  was  composed  of  four  facul- 
ties :  of  theology,  of  canon  law,  of  medicine,  and  of  arts.  The 
last  named  embraced  what  may  be  called  secondary  instruc- 
tion— from  the  third  department  as  far  as  philosophy — and 
with  an  advanced  course,  from  baccalaureate  to  doctorate. 
Logic  was  made  the  chief  study.  All  the  teaching  was  oral, 
and  with  infinite  discussions.  The  career  of  the  student  was 
as  follows.  After  a  first  examination  he  was  proclaimed  de- 
terminant; 2  after  a  second  examination,  licencie — and  that 
qualified  him  for  teaching ;  after  a  third  examination,  maitre 
es-arts  (Master  of  Arts) — and  then  he  was  a  professor  of  the 
faculty;  finally,  after  still  another  examination,  he  received 
the  degree  of  docteur.  The  Sorbonne  branch  of  the  University 

1  A  great  number  of  provincial  universities  were  founded  in  France  in 
imitation  of  the  University  of  Paris.  Among  them  were  Angers,  Toulouse, 
founded  1229,  and  especially  conspicuous  in  the  fourteenth  century; 
Montpellier,  Avignon,  Cahors,  Grenoble,  Orleans,  Poictiers,  Caen,  Bourges. 

J  At  the  end  of  the  fifteenth  century  the  term  determinant  was  changed 
to  bachelier  (bachelor).  During  the  Middle  Ages  bachelier  meant  a  candi- 
date for  knighthood  and  was  therefore  a  title  relating  to  the  nobility  and 
not  to  the  University. 

58 


CHRONICLES   AND    HISTORY 

of  Paris1  soon  became  a  faculty  of  theology  of  the  greatest 
importance;  it  was  truly  a  "  light,  guide,  and  judge  "  for  the 
Church  of  France.  A  "Permanent  Council,"  Bossuet  called 
it;  a  judge  also  of  books,  and  books  sometimes  most  foreign 
to  its  teachings.  These  were  submitted  to  it  by  the  author- 
ities for  a  decision  as  to  whether  they  contained  anything 
contrary  to  the  religion  of  the  State.  Thus  it  was  at  the  same 
time  a  Permanent  Council  and  a  Congregation  of  the  Index 
— titles  that  made  it  most  redoubtable.  To  return  to  its  posi- 
tion in  the  Middle  Ages:  it  was  at  that  time  a  school  of  re- 
ligion, of  law,  and  of  a  philosophy  that  was  very  subtle  and 
ingenious  and  at  times  very  profound.  It  created  theologians 
and  orators  with  dialectics  concise  and  captious,  and  very 
skillful  diplomats.  That  is  why  so  many  celebrated  diplomats 
of  the  Middle  Ages,  and  even  of  more  modern  times,  were 
priests.  Theology  and  scholarship  were  marvelous  means 
by  which  to  fortify,  make  supple,  and  sharpen  men's  minds 
— always  provided  their  intellects  were  strong  enough  to  sup- 
port this  rigorous  discipline. 

Jean  Froissart,  born  at  Valenciennes  in  Hainault  about 
the  year  1337,  was  the  son  of  a  painter  of  coats-of-arms.  He 
was  a  churchman — in  fact,  a  good  canon,  who  had  even,  for 
some  time,  been  a  cure.  Nevertheless,  his  history  and  his 
poems,  as  he  himself  says,  are  recitals  only  of  war  and  love. 
He  traveled  in  order  to  write  history.  According  to  Villemain, 
perhaps  it  might  be  said  more  truthfully  that  Froissart  became 
an  historian  in  order  to  travel.  He  set  out  for  England,  where 
he  was  warmly  welcomed  by  the  lords  and  ladies  and  where 
the  queen,  Philippa  de  Hainault,  wife  of  Edward  III,  became 
his  patroness.  As  her  protege  he  composed  love  poems,  but 
his  great  Chronicle  was  always  uppermost,  and  the  favor  of 
princes  enabled  him  to  travel  and  improve  his  mind.  He 
visited  Scotland,  at  that  time  an  unknown  country.  He  ap- 
proached familiarly  Edward,  Prince  of  Wales  (the  Black 
Prince),  and  the  great  man  of  his  century.  He  followed  to 
Milan  the  Duke  of  Clarence,  who  went  there  to  marry  the 
daughter  of  Galeazzo  II. 

1  Since  1896  the  University  of  Paris  has  five  branches:  law,  literature, 
the  sciences,  medicine,  and  theology  (Sorbonne  branch). 

59 


THE    HISTORY   OF    FRENCH   LITERATURE 

After  the  death  of  Queen  Philippa,  he  returned  to  his  own 
country,  and  was  appointed  cure  of  Lestines,  in  the  diocese  of 
Cambrai.  This  office  he  discharged  but  a  short  time,  return- 
ing to  the  more  agreeable  court  life,  and  attaching  himself 
to  Wenceslas,  Duke  of  Brabant,  a  generous  prince  who  made 
verses.  Froissart  served  him  as  secretary  and  poet;  he  re- 
touched the  verses  of  the  duke,  mingled  his  own  with  them, 
and  united  all  in  a  romance  entitled  Meliador,  or,  the 
Knight  of  the  Golden  Sun.  Froissart  himself  has  told  of 
his  reception  at  the  court  of  England,  and  how  he  presented 
his  romance  of  Meliador  to  Richard  II.  This  work  is  a  his- 
tory, almost  universal  in  treatment,  of  the  States  of  Europe 
from  the  year  1322  to  the  end  of  the  fourteenth  century. 
Sometimes,  by  happy  contrasts,  adroit  transitions,  he  related 
his  own  adventures  along  with  historical  facts.  Froissart 's 
whole  genius  lies  in  his  ability  to  tell  a  story;  and  he  tells 
it  well.  No  man  had  seen  more  countries;  above  all,  no  man 
had  seen  them  to  better  purpose.  In  the  intervals  of  his 
voyages,  and  even  in  the  course  of  his  excursions,  he  wrote 
the  chronicle  of  his  time,  and  made  verses.  These  were  lais, 
virelais,  rondeaux,  and  little  poems — gallant,  sentimental,  or 
allegorical.  The  titles  embrace:  Li  Horloge  Amoureuse  (The 
Horologe  of  Love)  ;  Li  Debat  du  Cheval  et  du  Levrier  (The 
Dispute  between  the  Horse  and  the  Greyhound)  ;  Li  Trettie 
de  I'Epinette  Amoureuse  (The  Story  of  the  Love  Coop) ;  Li 
Trettie  du  Joli  Buisson  de  Jonece  (The  Story  of  the  Pleasing 
Grove  of  Youth) ;  Le  Paradis  d' Amour,  etc.  Freshness,  grace, 
color — above  all,  naturalness — are  what  one  finds  in  these 
amiable  reveries.  Froissart  died  about  1405  and  Enguerrand 
de  Monstrelet  wrote  a  continuation  of  his  "  chronicles,"  com- 
prising the  years  1400  to  1444.  This  chonicle,  although  a 
faithful  report  of  events,1  is  tiresome  and  wordy ;  which  called 
forth  the  criticism  of  Rabelais:  "  Ce  long  narre  est  plus 
baveux  qu  'un  pot  a  moustarde. ' ' 2 

An  author's  superiority  consists  in  being,  at  once,  of  his 
time  and  out  of  his  time;  in  expressing  the  thoughts  of  his 
contemporaries,  and  in  having  an  individual  expression  of 

1  Monstrelet  was  in  Compi&gne  when  Jeanne  d'Arc  was  taken  prisoner. 
1  This  long  narrative  is  more  slabbering  than  a  mustard-pot. 

60 


CHRONICLES    AND   HISTORY 

his  own.  Such  an  author  was  Philippe  de  Commines,  and 
according  to  Villemain,  the  most  original  French  writer  of 
the  fifteenth  century,  because  in  addition  to  the  naivete  of 
this  period,  he  was  endowed  with  the  mental  stability  of  an- 
other epoch.  In  his  Memoires  one  perceives  a  resemblance, 
in  form  and  detail,  to  the  romance  of  chivalry;  at  the  same 
time  there  is  disclosed  a  mind,  serious  and  solid,  that  sees 
through  all  ruses,  and  judges  with  marvelous  insight,  the 
character,  the  form,  and  the  objects  of  governments.  Corn- 
mines 's  work  in  marking  the  progress  achieved  by  reason, 
government,  and  the  art  of  living  in  the  fifteenth  century, 
exhibits  the  perfection  of  a  recital  at  once  judicious  and 
naive.  To  a  talent  for  story-telling  is  united  political  sagac- 
ity. Commines  was  the  confidant,  the  historian,  and  the 
panegyrist  of  Louis  XI,  whose  political  astuteness  and  ability 
he  has  pictured  with  supreme  expression  and  intelligence. 

The  condemnation  merited  by  Louis  XI,  says  Augustin 
Thierry,  and  of  which  the  future  will  not  absolve  him,  rests 
on  the  blame  the  human  conscience  attaches  to  the  memory 
of  those  who  have  believed  that  all  means  are  good  in  im- 
posing upon  facts  the  yoke  of  ideas.  During  Charles  VIII 's 
reign,  Commines  was  imprisoned  for  eight  months  at  Loches, 
in  one  of  the  famous  hanging  cages  called  fillettes  du  roi, 
devised  by  Louis  XI  (also  ascribed  to  Cardinal  La  Balu,  one 
of  the  first  to  be  "  caged  ").  Later  he  was  recalled  to  the 
favor  of  Charles  VIII,  served  him  as  chamberlain,  and  ac- 
companied him  on  the  expedition  leading  to  the  conquest  of 
Naples.  During  Louis  XII 's  reign,  he  remained  in  the  good 
graces  of  that  king  until  his  death. 

Alain  Chartier  (1390-1449),  preceding  Commines,  earned 
the  sobriquet  of  Father  of  French  Eloquence  by  the  force  and 
eloquence  of  his  prose  style.  In  Le  Curial  he  depicts  in  a 
fascinating  manner  the  court  life  of  Charles  VII.  In  the 
Quadriloge  invectif,  four  allegorical  characters,  Noblesse 
(Nobility),  Clerge  (Clergy),  Roture  (Commonalty),  and 
Labour  (Peasantry),  all  reproach  each  other  for  the  evils 
of  the  Hundred  Years'  War,  and  seek  a  remedy.  As  a  poet, 
he  was  mediocre,  resorting  too  much  to  allegory,  a  common 
failing  of  the  times  influenced  by  the  Roman  de  la  Rose.  Le 
Lime,  des  Quatre  Dames,  considered  his  best  poem,  tells  of  four 

61 


THE    HISTORY   OF    FRENCH   LITERATURE 

ladies  who  have  last  their  sweethearts  in  the  battle  of  Agin- 
court — one  was  killed,  one  taken  prisoner,  a  third  disappeared, 
and  a  fourth  fled.  The  women  dispute  as  to  which  of  them 
is  the  most  unhappy.  Chartier  was  very  popular  at  court 
on  account  of  his  grace  and  amiability  of  manner  and  his 
poetry.  Estienne  Pasquier  tells  the  following  anecdote:  One 
day,  Marguerite  of  Scotland,  first  wife  of  the  Dauphin, 
later  Louis  XI,  seeing  Chartier  asleep  on  a  chair,  approached 
and  kissed  him.  This  greatly  surprised  her  companions,  for 
"  nature  had  given  him  a  beautiful  mind  in  an  ugly  body." 
The  princess  replied  that  she  had  not  kissed  the  man,  but  the 
lips  from  which  came  so  many  "  golden  words."  Of  this 
story,  one  French  critic  remarks:  "  there  is  in  this  legend 
more  real  poetry  than  in  all  the  works  of  Alain  Chartier." 

As  a  prose  writer,  Chartier  shows  his  close  knowledge  of 
the  classics,  and  unconsciously,  perhaps,  imitates  their  style. 
In  this  way  he  may  be  considered  a  forerunner  of  the  Renais- 
sance ;  and  this  no  doubt  accounts  for  the  esteem  accorded  to 
him  later  in  the  sixteenth  century.  A  man  of  lofty  ideas  and 
noble  sentiments,  he  strove  to  express  them  in  clear  and 
simple  language.  Estienne  Pasquier  compared  Alain  Chartier 
to  Seneca. 


CHAPTER   V 

THE  THEATER  IN   THE   MIDDLE  AGES 

WITH  all  nations  the  theater  owes  its  origin  to  religion. 
In  the  fifth  century  manifestations  of  dramatic  taste  and 
spirit  were  observed  at  the  funeral  of  Sainte  Radegonde, 
Queen  of  the  Franks:  two  hundred  nuns  chanted  a  kind  of 
elegy  around  her  coffin,  while  others  responded  with  lamenta- 
tions and  mournful  gestures  from  the  windows  of  the  mon- 
astery. The  same  circumstance  is  recorded  of  other  impos- 
ing funerals. 

The  religious  drama  in  France  was  developed  toward  the 
tenth  century  from  the  liturgical  texts  amplified  by  the 
priests,  clerics,  and  monks  for  the  edification  of  the  faithful. 
They  intercalated  the  ceremonies  of  their  cult  with  simple 
representations,  the  object  of  which  was  the  teaching  by 
demonstration  of  the  dogmas.  For  Pentecost,  the  descent  of 
the  Holy  Ghost  was  represented  by  doves  and  birds  let  loose 
in  the  churches.  The  Day  of  Ascension,  Christ  was  repre- 
sented by  a  priest  mounting  the  tribune.  The  demonstrations, 
which  belonged  to  the  Nativity,  showed  the  priests  as  prophets 
passing  in  procession  before  the  spectators  announcing  the 
coming  of  Christ.  For  Easter,  scenes  figurative  of  the 
Resurrection  were  represented. 

At  first  the  liturgic  drama  was  composed  of  a  short  text 
in  Latin  prose.  Gradually  the  language  became  partly  Latin 
and  partly  the  popular  idiom,  with  a  gradual  change  from 
prose  to  verse.  Finally,  versification  predominated;  the 
popular  language  superseded  the  Latin,  and  the  drama  was 
detached  from  the  service. 

Until  the  fifteenth  century  these  religious  dramas,  were 
called  jeux  or  drames,  as  the  Drame  des  Prophetes  du  Christ, 

63 


THE    HISTORY    OF    FRENCH   LITERATURE 

written  in  Latin  in  the  eleventh  century,  the  Drame  d'Adam 
of  the  twelfth  century,  and  the  Jeu  de  la  Resurrection  of  the 
thirteenth  century.  Toward  the  fifteenth  century,  it  became 
customary  to  represent  these  religious  scenes  by  tableaux,  for 
which  a  great  number  of  people  were  necessary:  as  the 
"  Passion,"  the  "  Last  Judgment,"  etc.,  and  these  tableaux 
were  called  Mysteres.  Later  dialogues  were  introduced,  and 
these  dramatic  mysteries  created  such  an  extraordinary  vogue 
that  associations  were  formed  in  all  the  large  cities  to  rep- 
resent them. 

Besides  the  mysteries  which  originated  with  the  liturgical 
texts  and  represented  especially  the  events  of  the  Gospel,  the 
Passion,  the  Resurrection  and  the  Incarnation,  there  pro- 
ceeded another  form  of  the  theater  from  the  canticles  in 
honor  of  the  saints,  or  from  the  readings  of  their  lives  given 
in  the  churches.  This  form  was  called  Miracle.  Since  very 
early  times  it  had  been  customary  for  students  to  represent 
scenes  from  the  lives  of  their  patron  saints.  In  1119,  the 
Miracle  of  St.  Catherine  was  given  by  the  novices  of  the 
convent  of  Saint-Albans  under  the  direction  of  the  abbot. 
Sometimes  the  whole  life  of  a  saint  was  represented,  and  the 
relics  of  the  saint  placed  on  the  scene  during  the  representa- 
tion. 

About  1200,  or  perhaps  earlier,  Jean  Bodel,  of  Arras,  com- 
posed the  Miracle  or  Jeu  de  St.  Nicholas.  The  prologue  to 
this  play  analyzes  it  and  discloses  the  climax.  For  the  poets 
of  that  time — like  the  Greeks1 — did  not  by  any  means,  seek 
to  surprise;  nor  did  they  believe,  with  d'Aubignac,  that  ret- 
icence in  unraveling  the  plot  was  "  the  soul  of  tragedy." 
The  trouveres  announced  in  advance  the  story  to  be  told  in 
their  epic  poems  and  the  dramatic  authors  did  likewise.  Ret- 
icence in  the  development  of  the  plot  is  an  entirely  modern 
device.  The  Jeu  de  St.  Nicholas  of  Bodel,  and  the  Miracle 
de  Theophile,  by  Rutebeuf,  are  the  only  specimens  of  Miracle 
plays  preserved  from  the  thirteenth  century  in  France.  The 
Miracle  of  Theophile,  by  Rutebeuf,  consisting  of  only  six  hun- 
dred and  sixty-six  verses,  is  a  very  curious  legend  in  dialogue. 

1  The  ancient  choruses  in  the  Greek  tragedies  took  the  place  of  the 
monologues. 

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THE    THEATER   IN   THE    MIDDLE    AGES 

Theophile  is  the  Faust  of  the  Middle  Ages — resembling  not 
Goethe 's  Faust,  but  Marlowe 's.  We  have  here  a  priest  who  has 
sold  his  soul  to  the  devil  in  order  to  recover  an  office  or  benefice 
he  has  lost.  He  is  saved  by  the  intercession  of  the  Virgin  Mary. 
One  may  consider  this  play  of  the  thirteenth  century,  chrono- 
logically, as  the  first  of  the  Miracle  plays  of  Notre  Dame,  in 
the  fourteenth  century. 

The  Miracle  play  had  for  its  foundation  a  miracle;  that 
is  to  say,  the  climax  rested  upon  the  intervention  of  a  su- 
perhuman power.  Most  frequently,  it  seems,  such  a  miracu- 
lous intervention  proceeded  from  the  Virgin  Mary;  this  is 
because  (as  we  see  from  the  nondramatic  writings,  from  the 
legends  of  the  time,  and  from  the  monuments)  the  last  cen- 
turies of  the  Middle  Ages  were  very  particularly  devoted  to 
the  Mother  of  Jesus.  These  Miracle  plays  center  upon  a 
struggle  between  the  demons  (who  have  a  visible  role  as  char- 
acters in  the  drama)  and  the  Virgin  Mary,  for  the  soul  of 
the  sinner.  Gautier  de  Coincy,  a  French  poet  of  the  twelfth 
century,  collected  a  large  number  of  pious  legends  which  had 
accumulated  during  the  eleventh  and  twelfth  centuries,  and 
translated  them  from  Latin  into  French.  They  comprise 
about  thirty  thousand  verses  and  are  called  the  Miracles 
Nostre  Dame.  He  sets  forth  that  the  sinner  who  has  never 
ceased  to  invoke  the  Virgin  will  be  saved  no  matter  how  black 
his  crime.  One  finds  in  these  plays  characteristics  of  the  art- 
lessness  and  the  moral  conception  of  the  time.  In  the  story 
of  Robert  the  Devil,1  Robert  is  the  spiritual  son  of  Satan. 
He  was  conceived  by  a  woman  who  prayed  for  a  son,  first  to 
God,  the  Virgin,  and  the  Saints,  and  finally  invoked  the  Devil. 
Robert  is  thus  the  child  of  despair.  He  is  steeped  in  crime, 
but  eventually  is  filled  with  the  divine  grace,  and  expiates 
his  sins,  by  acts  of  courage,  charity,  and  humility,  and  dies 
like  a  saint.  Robert  the  Devil  was  supposed  to  convey  the 
ideas  of  original  sin  and  divine  compassion.  Another  Miracle 
tells  of  a  monk  so  ignorant  that  he  could  retain  in  mind 
nothing  more  than  Ave  Maria,  and  was  therefore  scorned 
by  all.  His  sanctity  was  revealed  at  his  death,  when  five 

1  It  contains  forty-seven  characters  and  two  thousand  verses.    It  was 
used  for  the  theme  in  Meyerbeer's  opera. 
6  65 


THE    HISTORY   OF    FRENCH   LITERATURE 

roses  sprang  from  his  lips  in  honor  of  the  five  letters  in 
the  name  of  Maria.  A  nun  having  left  her  convent  to  live 
a  life  of  pleasure,  returned  after  many  years  to  find  that  the 
Virgin  Mary,  to  w^om  she  had  never  ceased  praying,  had 
taken  her  place  and  fulfilled  her  duties  as  nun. 

Another  collection  of  Miracles  de  Notre  Dame  was  com- 
posed in  the  thirteenth  century,  by  Jean  le  Marchant,  a  priest 
of  Chartres.  Among  them  is  the  story  of  the  chevalier  who. 
in  order  to  obtain  riches  promised  to  give  his  wife  to  the 
devil.  While  he  was  conducting  her  to  his  satanic  majesty, 
the  poor  wife  entered  the  chapel  of  Mary  for  a  moment's 
prayer.  In  the  meantime  the  Virgin  Mary  returned  in  the 
wife's  place  to  the  husband,  and  was  given  by  him  to  the 
devil,  whom  she  punished  severely. 

The  story  of  the  Tombeor  Nostre  Dame,1  tells  of  a  poor 
juggler  who  became  a  monk  and  saw  his  companions  pay 
reverence  to  the  Virgin  according  to  each  one's  ability  in 
music,  art,  or  poetry.  Knowing  nothing  but  his  tricks,  he 
secretly  slipped  into  the  chapel  during  the  night,  equipped 
with  his  old  juggler  outfit  and  rendered  homage  to  the  Virgin 
by  dancing  and  juggling  before  her  statue.  Some  of  the 
monks  hidden  in  the  chapel,  horrified  at  this  sacrilegious 
proceeding,  were  about  to  denounce  him  when  the  Virgin 
herself  approached  the  juggler  to  wipe  the  perspiration  from 
his  brow. 

The  Miracles  from  a  dramatic  standpoint  are  considered 
superior  to  the  Mysteries,  owing  to  their  simplicity  in  con- 
struction and  the  possibility  of  development,  whereas  the 
Mysteries  were  prolific  productions  of  enormous  length,  which 
retraced  the  entire  history  of  religion,  from  the  creation  of 
the  world  to  the  resurrection.  The  Passion,  a  Mystery  by 
Arnold  GrSban,  contained  thirty-five  thousand  verses,  and  the 
Mystery  Actes  des  Apotres,  by  Arnold  and  Simon  Greban, 
comprised  sixty  thousand  verses  and  the  performance  lasted 
forty  days.  Several  hundred  persons  were  required  for  these 
performances  and  they  sometimes  played  the  most  terrible 

1  This  legend  is  the  source  of  Anatole  France's  story  of  the  Jongleur 
de  Notre  Dame  and  of  Maurice  Lena's  poem  which  Jules  Massenet  has 
set  to  music  in  an  opera  of  the  same  name. 

66 


THE    THEATER   IN    THE    MIDDLE    AGES 

scenes  very  realistically.  He  who  represented  Jesus  was 
properly  crucified,  and  escaped  death  with  difficulty;  the 
unfortunate  one  who  enacted  Judas  was  cut  loose  only  at  the 
last  extremity,  and  when  the  public  judged  by  his  contortions 
that  his  remorse  was  sincere. 

The  members  of  the  confreries  especially  devoted  to  these 
representations  were  considered  in  a  measure  professionals, 
and  they  had  a  fixed  theater  in  some  inclosed  space ;  but  gen- 
erally the  theater  used  was  temporarily  built  and  disappeared 
after  the  performance ;  the  actors  were  the  people  who  volun- 
teered to  take  part,  the  roles  of  Jesus,  or  God,  or  the  saints 
being  represented  by  priests.  A  glittering  procession  of  horse- 
men rode  through  towns  and  villages,  several  months  before, 
announcing  with  trumpet  call  and  poetry  (cri  du  mystere]  the 
play,  its  date  and  duration,  summoning  those  who  wished  to 
take  part,  and  distributing  their  roles  among  them.  Thou- 
sands of  people  witnessed  these  performances.  During  the 
period  of  representation  (from  three  to  forty  days)  the  gates 
of  the  town  were  closed  and  sentinels  patroled  the  streets  to 
guard  the  deserted  houses.  The  cost  of  the  theater,  together 
with  the  production,  sometimes  rose  to  one  hundred  thousand 
francs  ($20,000).  The  interior  of  the  theater  was  richly 
decorated  with  draperies  and  had  an  enormous  stage  *  divided 
into  three  parts  (not  of  three  stories  as  is  still  erroneously 
believed).  The  division  in  the  center  represented  the  earth 
sometimes  with  forty  mansions :  the  palace  of  Herod,  the  tem- 
ple of  Jerusalem,  the  house  of  Mary  of  Nazareth,  or  the 
abode  of  Adam  and  Eve,  etc.  Mountains,  forests,  rivers,  and 
lakes  were  introduced.  To  the  left  was  Paradise,  with  flowers 
and  trees  where  God,  usually  in  pontifical  robes,  was  rep- 
resented with  His  angels  watching  the  play  to  the  accompani- 
ment of  music.  To  the  right  was  the  entrance  of  Hell  in  the 
shape  of  a  dragon's  mouth,  opening  and  closing  to  engulf 
sinners  and  emitting  fire  and  smoke.  At  first  only  men  were 
allowed  on  the  stage,  as  in  Rome  and  Athens,  but  later  women 
assumed  the  female  role,  a  custom  introduced  by  the  wander- 
ing players  from  Italy.  The  scenery  was  the  same  throughout 

1  An  excellent  picture  of  the  whole  effect  of  the  stage  in  the  Middle  Ages 
can  be  seen  in  a  manuscript  of  the  Mystery  of  the  Passion  in  Valenciennes. 

67 


THE    HISTORY    OP    FRENCH    LITERATURE 

the  play,  and  all  the  actors  remained  on  the  stage  from  begin- 
ning to  end,  even  if  they  had  nothing  more  to  do. 

Of  the  numerous  dramatic  societies  which  flourished  not 
only  in  Paris,  but  in  all  parts  of  France  during  the  Middle 
Ages,  the  most  celebrated  was  the  Confrerie  de  la  Passion 
composed  of  the  bourgeois  and  artisans  of  Paris,  who,  under 
the  direction  of  the  clergy  devoted  themselves  to  the  repre- 
sentation of  the  mysteres  de  la  Passion.  In  1402,  this  or- 
ganization received  from  the  king  the  theater  monopoly  of 
Paris,  which  they  enjoyed  for  more  than  a  century.  Their 
performances  were  first  given  in  a  hall  of  the  Hopital  de  la 
Trinite,  a  hostelry  near  the  Porte  Saint-Denis  for  pilgrims 
and  travelers  who  arrived  in  Paris  after  the  gates  were 
closed.  Then  the  company  played  in  the  Hotel  de  Flandres, 
and  finally  they  obtained  the  Hotel  de  Bourgogne  (former 
palace  of  the  Dukes  of  Burgundy).  In  1548,  Parliament  in- 
terdicted the  representations  of  ' '  mysteries  ' ' ;  this  practically 
ended  the  most  powerful  dramatic  corporation  of  Paris,  and 
gave  the  deathblow  to  the  religious  theater  of  the  Middle 
Ages.  The  confreres  still  had  the  theater  privilege,  but 
after  unsuccessful  attempts  with  secular  plays  they  ceased 
their  performances  and  rented  their  theater  to  a  company 
of  actors  called  Comediens  fran$ais  ordinaires  du  Roi,  and 
henceforth  known  as  the  troupe  royale  de  I'hotel  de  Bour- 
gogne.1 A  decree  issued  by  Louis  XIV  in  1676,  declared 
the  Confrerie  de  la  Passion  dissolved  and  conferred  their 
property  on  the  city  hospital.  The  comedians  paid  the  ground 
rent  to  the  hospital  as  they  had  done  to  the  confrerie.  This 
is  the  origin  of  the  droit  des  pauvres,  a  tax  to  which  the 
French  theaters,  concerts,  and  analogous  amusements  are  still 
subjected. 

In  imitation  of  the  mysteries,  great  events  of  national  or 
ancient  history  were  dramatized,  such  as  the  Siege  of  Orleans, 
and  the  Destruction  of  Troy,  immense  works,  but  of  small 
literary  value. 

The  comic  theater  existed  in  Paris  in  the  Middle  Ages  in 
the  form  of  soties,  moralites  and  farces.  The  growing  desire 

1  This  company  was  united  by  order  of  Louis  XIV  with  Moliere's  com- 
pany to  form  the  famous  Com£die-Fran(?aise,  or  Th6atre-Fran<;ais. 

68 


THE    THEATER   IN    THE    MIDDLE    AGES 

of  the  people  to  witness  these  performances  gave  rise  to 
innumerable  dramatic  societies  in  all  parts  of  France:  the 
Puys,  the  Basoche,  the  Enfants  sans-souci,  Fous  or  Sots,  the 
Cornards,  etc.  The  Puys,  organized  in  honor  of  the  Virgin, 
gave  representations  of  the  miracles  of  her  life.  Originally 
they  were  intended  to  crown  religious  plays,  but  gradually 
degenerated  into  awarding  prizes  to  silly  songs  and  licentious 
pieces. 

The  Basoche  was  a  corporation  of  clerks  from  the  Palais 
de  Justice1  (basoche),  the  members  of  which  elected  a  king 
and  his  court  from  among  their  numbers.  The  Basoche 
presided  at  public  entertainments  and  also  gave  theatrical 
performances — farces,  soties  and  moralites — on  the  marble 
table  2  of  the  palace. 

The  Enfants  sans-souci  (Children  without  care),  or  Fous, 
or  Sots  (fools),  received  letters  patent  from  Charles  VI,  to 
form  a  dramatic  organization.  They  had  a  chief  called 
Prince  of  Sots,  a  second  chief  called  Mother  Sotte,  and  other 
dignitaries  with  equally  bizarre  titles.  The  plays  they  per- 
formed were  called  soties.  The  sotie,  in  one  respect,  re- 
sembled the  Italian  comedy,  inasmuch  as  the  characters  were 
stereotyped  personages,  and  always  the  same.  It  put  on  the 
stage  live  issues  of  the  time.  It  was  the  journalism  of  the 
epoch.  All  the  quarrels  between  royalty  and  the  Holy  See,  all 
the  dissensions  between  the  people  and  the  great,  or  the  gov- 
ernment— in  one  word,  all  the  affairs  of  the  time  were  made 
into  soties — satires  in  dialogue.  Petit  de  Julleville  discredits 
the  theory  of  the  Parfaict  brothers,  who  represented  the 
Enfants  sans-souci,  as  young  people  of  good  families  playing 
comedy  to  amuse  and  to  moralize  the  people.  He  asserts  that 
their  origin  is  obscure,  but  that  they  were  composed  of  the 
boheme  and  not  of  the  jeunesse  doree  of  Paris.  The  confrerie 
owned  a  playhouse  called  the  Maison  des  sotz  attendans.  Cle- 

1  When  the  Kings  of  France  occupied  the  Palais  de  Justice  it  was  often 
called  the  Palais  Royal. 

J  Jurisdiction,  called  the  Table  de  Marbre,  because  its  sessions  were 
held  on  a  large  marble  table  occupying  the  entire  space  of  the  large  hall 
in  the  Palais  de  Justice  in  Paris.  This  table  also  served  the  Basochiens 
(clerks  of  the  basoche)  to  give  their  performances.  Henri  III  suppressed 
the  title  of  the  king  of  the  basoche. 

69 


THE    HISTORY    OF    FRENCH   LITERATURE 

ment  Marot,  who  in  his  youth  was  one  of  its  members,  wrote  a 
poem  for  his  companions  called  Ballade  des  En f ants  sans-souci. 

The  sotie  differed  from  the  farce  only  in  the  costume  of 
the  personages:  the  sots  wore  parti-colored  dresses  (green 
and  yellow),  and  caps  with  long  ears,  and  their  names  were 
always  preceded  by  the  epithet  of  sot.  The  society  is  sup- 
posed to  have  been  founded  on  the  idea  that  this  world  is  a 
kingdom  of  folly.  Sometimes  the  soties  expressed  very  dar- 
ing political  satire.  The  people  against  whom  it  was  directed 
were  impersonated,  dressed  as  sots  and  given  over  to  ridicule. 
The  sotie  "  Vieux  Monde,  Abus,  les  sots  "  bitterly  censured 
the  courts  of  justice,  universities,  and  the  Church,  sometimes 
even  royalty  did  not  escape  satire.  Louis  XI  and  Francis  I 
placed  a  limit  to  these  audacious  liberties,  but  Louis  XII  often 
made  them  serve  his  political  attacks.  When  this  monarch 
was  about  to  declare  war  with  the  pope,  Julius  II,  he  feared 
an  insurrection  among  the  people.  Realizing  the  power  of 
the  theater  on  the  public,  he  charged  Pierre  Gringoire  to 
defend  his  politics  in  a  play  called  Jeu  du  Prince  des  sots,  a 
dramatic  trilogy  composed  of  a  sotie,  a  moralite,  and  a  farce. 
This  was  represented  in  the  market  place  before  the  king,  the 
University,  and  the  people  in  1511,  and  held  to  ridicule  the 
pope.  It  is  one  of  the  most  curious  monuments  of  the  litera- 
ture of  the  Middle  Ages.  At  the  end  of  the  sixteenth  century, 
Henry  IV  completely  banished  all  political  allusions  from 
the  stage. 

The  moralite  was  a  dramatic  work,  whose  object  was  a 
moral  and  the  characters  of  which  were  pure  abstractions. 
The  oldest  moralites  date  from  the  fifteenth  century,  and  re- 
late to  religion.  Religious,  didactic,  satirical,  polemical, 
legendary,  or  historical  are  the  various  characteristics  de- 
veloped in  some  of  the  moralites,  while  others  simply  point 
a  moral.  Such  were  the  moralites  of  Le  Mauvais  Riche  et  le 
Ladre  (the  Bad,  Rich  Man  and  the  Stingy  Man),  of  the  Em- 
peror who  condemned  to  death  his  Nephew,  of  Griselidis,1  of 

1  Griselidis,  or  Griselda,  the  heroine  of  a  legend  used  in  the  literature  of 
all  nations:  in  the  Lai  du  Frene  of  Marie  de  France,  in  the  Tales  of 
Canterbury  by  Chaucer,  in  Boccaccio's  Decameron;  by  Petrarcha  in  Latin, 
by  Erhart  Gross  and  H.  Stemhowel  in  German,  in  one  of  Perrault's  Contes 
de  ma  mere  I'Oye,  and  recently  by  Armand  Silvestre  and  Eugene  Morand. 

70 


THE    THEATER   IN    THE    MIDDLE    AGES 

the  "  Mother  and  Daughter  "  drawn  from  an  ancient  author, 
Valerius  Maximus,  and  which  is  the  story  of  a  mother  con- 
demned to  die  of  hunger  but  nourished  in  prison  with  her 
daughter's  milk  and  finally  pardoned  in  consideration  of 
this  pious  fraud.  One  of  the  most  curious  moralites  is  the 
Condamnation  de  Banquet  by  Dr.  Nicolas  de  la  Ches- 
naye.  The  characters  are:  Je  bois  a  vous  (I  drink  to  you), 
Gourmandise  (gluttony),  Friandise  (daintiness),  Bonne 
Compagnie  (good  company),  jolly  companions  who  dine  sump- 
tuously and  with  great  merriment  in  spite  of  the  hideous 
forms  of  Colicque  (colic),  Goutte  (gout),  Apoplexie  (apo- 
plexy), etc.,  which  menace  them.  From  Dinner  these  lively 
companions  hasten  to  Supper  still  followed  by  the  ugly  spec- 
ters who  succeed  in  upsetting  chairs,  tables,  and  even  some  of 
the  companions.  Undaunted  they  then  go  to  Banquet  where, 
however,  the  specters  joined  by  la  Mort  (death)  succeed  in 
killing  some  of  the  companions.  The  surviving  ones  insti- 
tute proceedings  against  Dinner,  Supper,  and  Banquet  in  the 
court  presided  over  by  Experience.  The  doctors  Hippoc- 
rates,1 Averroes 2  and  others  called  in  to  give  their  verdict, 
condemn  Banquet  to  be  hanged  by  Diete  (diet)  and  Supper 
is  ordered  to  keep  himself  six  miles — that  is,  six  hours — from 
Dinner. 

The  Danse  Macabre  or  Dance  of  Death  was  originally  a 
kind  of  moralite  intended  to  remind  the  living  of  the  power 
of  death.  The  performances  took  place  at  the  Convent  of 
the  Innocents  during  the  fourteenth  century  in  Paris  in 
commemoration,  it  is  thought,  of  the  seven  Maccabees.8  It 
consisted  of  dialogues  between  Death  and  twenty-four  people 
of  various  ranks  from  the  pope,  emperor,  empress,  king,  and 
queen  to  the  peasant  and  the  beggar.  Hence  the  Latin  name 
Chorea  Maccabceorum  later  changed  to  Danse  Macabre.  As 
early  as  the  beginning  of  the  fifteenth  century  this  idea,  also 
adopted  by  other  countries,  was  introduced  into  painting,* 

1  The  greatest  doctor  of  ancient  times  (450  B.C.). 
1  A  famous  Arabian  physician  (twelfth  century). 

*  2  Maccabees. 

•  In  the  Marienkirche  at  Luebeck,  the  Campo  Santa  at  Pisa,  the  Cathedral 
of  Strassburg;  in  the  cemeteries  of  Dresden,  Berne,  and  Bale,  which  latter 
has  forty-five  pictures. 

71 


sculpture,1  and  finally  into  engraving 2  and  printing,3  the 
different  personages  being  represented  as  whirled  around  in 
a  fantastic  dance  with  Death  as  the  leader.  It  was  in  vogue 
in  England,  but  reached  an  extraordinary  popularity  in  Ger- 
many in  the  middle  of  the  fifteenth  century,  which  was  soon 
after  repeated  in  France  where  it  was  treated  in  every  possi- 
ble way — in  pictures,  bas-reliefs,  tapestry,  etc.  Death  was 
made  grotesque — a  sort  of  "  horrid  harlequin,"  a  skeleton 
dancer,  or  a  musician  playing  for  dancers,  leading  all  man- 
kind. 

The  farce  was  at  first  an  accessory  to  serious  representa- 
tions serving  sometimes  as  an  interlude  to  a  Mystery  or  as  an 
episode  in  the  play  itself.  There  are  more  than  one  hundred 
farces  preserved  from  the  Middle  Ages  in  France.  Their 
authors  loved  especially  to  picture  conjugal  life,  and  to  make 
fun  of  the  quarrels  of  the  household,  either  among  the  burgh- 
ers or  the  common  people.  In  the  farce,  indicated  by  the 
title  of  De  celui  qui  enferma  sa  femme  dans  une  tour,  ou 
la  Dame  qui  ay  ant  tort,  parut  avoir  raison  (of  him  who  locked 
up  his  wife  in  a  tower,  or  the  lady  who,  being  wrong,  appeared 
to  be  right),  we  see  the  George  Dandin  of  Moliere.  We  have 
also  the  farce  of  the  women  who  want  to  rule  their  husbands ; 
the  farce  of  the  newly  wed,  the  origin  of  a  chapter  in  Rabelais, 
and  a  scene  in  Moliere 's  ' '  Forced  Marriage. ' '  The  admirable 
Farce  du  Cuvier  (washtub)  is  classical:  An  almost  angelic  hus- 
band, Jean,  lives  with  his  wife  and  mother-in-law,  who  contrive 
to  torture  the  poor  man  morning  and  evening.  He  is  their 
slave,  their  scapegoat.  They  make  him  get  up  before  daybreak, 
to  light  the  fire,  make  up  the  rooms,  wash  the  child.  Then  the 
women  appear  and  find  fault  with  everything.  At  last,  one 
day,  in  desperation,  he  implores  them  to  make  a  list  of  all  his 
tasks,  and  to  forget  nothing — for  he  has  decided  to  do  nothing 
that  is  not  set  down  in  writing.  So  the  women  prepare  the 
list,  and  he  puts  it  into  his  pocket.  Pretty  soon  the  bitter 

1  In  the  church  at  Cherbourg. 

1  Hans  Holbein  (fifteenth  century)  left  fifty-three  sketches  for  engrav- 
ings. Other  engravings  date  from  the  sixteenth,  seventeenth,  eighteenth, 
and  even  nineteenth  centuries.  (W.  Kaulback  and  others.) 

3  First  known  printed  edition  dates  from  1485.  Another  edition  is  that 
of  Danse  des  Morts  of  Bale. 

72 


THE    THEATER   IN    THE   MIDDLE    AGES 

and  violent  wife  begins  to  chide  him.  Gesticulating,  she  does 
not  think  of  a  washtub  behind  her,  in  which  the  wash  is 
soaking,  and  she  falls  into  it.  "  Help,  help!  Jean,  good 
husband,  dear  husband,"  she  cries.  But  Jean  gravely  draws 
the  paper  from  his  pocket,  and  reads  it  attentively.  "  This 
is  not  written  on  my  list,"  he  says  contentedly;  and  he 
crosses  his  arms.  His  wife's  cries  bring  her  mother.  She 
attempts  to  lift  her  daughter  from  the  tub,  but  she  is  not 
strong  enough.  ' '  Jean,  my  dear  son-in-law,  help  me !  "  she 
implores.  "  This  is  not  on  my  list,"  repeats  Jean.  At  last, 
when  his  wife  is  more  than  half -drowned,  he  consents  to  draw 
her  out,  but  only  on  condition  that  henceforth  he  will  be  mas- 
ter in  his  house.  They  promise,  but  everyone  says  to  him- 
self, "  The  poor  fool  will  always  be  led." 

In  some  farces  the  judiciary  world,  the  pedants,  braggarts, 
and  hypocrites  are  ridiculed.  Among  the  best  examples  of 
this  genre  and  replete  with  satirical  humor  and  wit  are  the 
Plaidoyer  de  la  Simple  et  de  la  Rusee  (Plea  of  the  Simple  and 
the  Crafty  Woman)  and  the  Droits  nouveaux  (New  Rights) 
by  William  Coquillart. 

The  anonymous  1  and  inimitable  Farce  de  Maitre  Pathelin 
(Lawyer  Pathelin)  of  the  fifteenth  century  is  more  elaborate 
than  all  the  other  farces  of  the  old  theater.  Rejuvenated  in 
1705  by  Abbe  Brueys,  it  still  holds  the  stage  of  the  Theatre- 
Frangais.  Pathelin,  a  briefless  lawyer,  swears  that  he  will 
procure  for  himself  and  his  wife  that  very  day  new  garments 
of  which  they  are  greatly  in  need.  He  enters  the  shop  of  his 
neighbor,  the  draper,  Master  Guillaume  Joceaulme;  cajoles 
him,  speaks  of  his  late  father,  his  aunt,  praises  the  quality  of 
his  wares,  and  allows  himself  to  be  induced  by  Guillaume  to 
buy  six  yards  of  superb  cloth  for  nine  ecus.2  He  takes  the 
cloth  with  him,  and  invites  the  merchant  to  come  to  his  house 
in  the  evening,  to  eat  goose  and  receive  his  money.  Guill- 
aume goes;  but  what  a  surprise!  He  finds  the  lawyer's  wife 
in  tears,  and  the  lawyer  himself  in  bed.  The  wife  insists 
that  her  husband  has  not  stirred  from  the  house  that  day  nor 
any  day  for  the  past  eleven  weeks!  The  draper  is  very  in- 

1  Attributed  without  foundation  to  Antoine  de  La  Salle,  to  Pierre 
Blanchet,  and  even  to  Villon. 

J  In  ancient  times  an  €cu  was  worth  about  three  francs  (sixty  cents). 

73 


THE    HISTORY   OF    FRENCH   LITERATURE 

dignant  upon  hearing  this,  but  Pathelin,  in  seeming  delirium, 
utters  cries  in  all  sorts  of  dialects  talking  Picard,  Flemish, 
Provencal,  and  even  Turkish  in  such  a  manner  that  the  draper, 
deafened  and  frightened,  runs  away,  making  the  sign  of  the 
cross,  and  thinking  that  perhaps  the  devil  himself  had  played 
him  the  trick: 

Le  diable,  en  lieu  de  ly, 

A  prins  mon  drap  pour  moy  tenter. 

Benedicite.1 

On  his  return  home,  Guillaume  meets  his  shepherd,  Aignelet, 
who  has  for  years  killed  and  eaten  Guillaume 's  best  sheep  and 
pretended  that  sickness  has  carried  them  off.  Guillaume 
finally  in  possession  of  proofs  of  the  shepherd's  perfidy,  in- 
forms him  that  he  will  be  summoned  before  the  court.  Aig- 
nelet in  great  distress  intrusts  his  case  to  Pathelin,  who  ad- 
vises him  to  feign  idiocy  and  to  reply  to  everything  with  a 
bleating  ba-a !  Guillaume,  recognizing  in  his  shepherd 's  law- 
yer the  thief  of  his  cloth  is  so  disconcerted  that  he  loses  his 
head  and  confuses  the  story  of  the  clothier  with  that  of  the 
sheep.  He  so  tries  the  patience  of  the  judge  who  in  vain 
calls  him  back  to  the  subject  in  question  with  the  famous 
phrase  revenons  a  nos  moutons  (let  us  return  to  our  sheep) 
that  he  absolves  Aignelet.  Pathelin  attempts  to  collect  his 
fee,  but  the  shrewd  Aignelet  has  profited  by  the  cleverness  of 
his  lawyer  and  defeats  him  with  his  eternal  Ba-a.  Pathelin, 
caught  in  his  own  trap,  returns  to  his  lodgings  confessing 

A  that  he  has  found  his  master. 
These  forms  of  comedy  show  most  curious  and  original 
qualities,  in  them  the  old  esprit  gaulois  is  given  a  free  course. 
They  did  not,  however  furnish  the  inspiration  and  materials 
of  true  French  comedy,  for  in  the  intermediate  Renaissance 
period  they  were  completely  lost  in  the  shadow  of  the  newly 
introduced  dramas  of  antiquity. 

1  The  devil,  instead  of  him, 
Has  taken  my  cloth  to  tempt  me. 
Praise  ye  (O  Lord). 


CHAPTER  VI 

LYRIC  POETRY 

IN  the  Middle  Ages  narrative  poetry  took  the  form  of  the 
national  epic,  in  which  it  reached  its  highest  expression;  but 
during  a  thousand  years  of  literary  productiveness,  various 
attempts  to  create  a  body  of  lyric  poetry  were  not  fairly 
realized  until  the  nineteenth  century.  The  French  genius 
does  not  lean  to  lyricism.  G.  Lanson  notes  that  his  country- 
men are  unlike  the  Germans  with  their  deep,  pessimistic 
nature,  conscious  of  the  tragedy  of  life.  The  French,  he 
remarks,  are  led  neither  by  personal  experience  nor  by  deep 
reflection  to  recognize  the  fact  that  the  perpetuity  of  suffer- 
ing is  the  very  essence  of  life.  On  the  contrary,  life  is  to 
them  a  delight;  and  hence,  unlike  Heine,  they  have  not  been 
' '  able  to  create  elegies  out  of  their  great  sufferings, ' '  It  has 
been  their  habit  to  regard  only  the  actual  world  and  life  in 
its  immediate  aspect,  and  to  free  themselves  from  everything 
that  would  arrest  action.  They  have  long  intrusted  to  the 
Church  the  business  of  regulating  for  them  the  questions  of 
a  future  existence — of  death  and  eternity ;  to  spare  themselves 
further  thought  except  during  the  brief  moments  of  the  death- 
bed. Metaphysical  problems  and  religious  pensiveness  were 
stored  away  in  a  corner  of  the  heart  where  they  would  not 
disturb  them  in  the  enjoyment  of  life.  Thus  a  great  lyric 
poetry,  the  most  unrestrained  and  elevated  of  all  poetical 
inspirations,  the  outcry  of  the  earnestness  and  the  sadness  of 
existence,  could  not  arise  in  France  from  those  elements  and 
circumstances  which  created  it  among  other  nations.  The 
origin  of  lyric  poetry  in  Northern  France,  so  far  as  it 
meagerly  existed  at  all,  related  to  woman — to  whom  action 
was  denied,  and  who  lived  somewhat  in  the  realm  of  dreams 
and  emotions  conducive  to  poetry.  For  her,  and  perhaps  by 
her,  dancing  songs  and  spindle  songs  were  composed  at  the 

75 


THE    HISTORY   OF    FRENCH   LITERATURE 

period  of  truly  spontaneous  and  popular  poetic  creation. 
The  songs  with  which  the  young  women  and  girls  in  French 
hamlets  accompanied  their  spinning  wheels — one  singing  the 
theme  solo,  the  others  taking  up  the  refrain — have  been  utter- 
ly lost.  But  with  the  aid  of  certain  refrains  (motets  or 
ballettes)  of  an  ancient  and  popular  character,  belonging  to 
the  thirteenth  and  fourteenth  centuries,  together  with  the 
cognate  poetry  in  Sicily,  Portugal  and  Germany,  it  has  been 
possible  to  reconstruct  these  songs,  though  somewhat  feebly. 

Talis  tot  se  leva: 

"Bon jour  ait  qui  mon  coeur  a." 

Beau  se  vetit  et  para, 

Dessous  1'aulnoie. 

"  Bonjour  ait  qui  mon  coeur  a 

N'est  avec  moi."1 

All  these  songs  speak  of  love.  There  is  the  maiden,  re- 
joicing in  her  youth  and  beauty,  who  boasts  of  having  a  lover, 
or  complains  that  she  has  none — who  would  marry  him  whom 
her  parents  refuse,  or  who  rejects  the  choice  of  her  parents, 
and  tells  of  their  cruelty.  Secret  meetings,  departure,  absence, 
desertion,  dangers,  surprises,  fears,  ruses,  form  the  substance 
of  the  emotions  and  the  songs.  But  the  song  did  not  become 
an  ode.  The  dancing  couplet  did  not  rise  to  the  dignity  of 
the  lyric  poem;  it  was  not  enlarged  by  a  feeling  for  nature, 
by  a  sympathetic  communion  with  universal  life,  by  a  pro- 
found and  trembling  intuition  of  the  eternal  conditions  of 
human  suffering,  or  by  intensity  of  emotion  and  the  absorp- 
tion of  the  whole  being  in  one  great  passion.  There  is  a 
lively,  pleasing,  dancing  rhythm,  to  be  sure — wonderfully 
adapted  to  the  superficial  form  of  those  sentiments  which  touch 
the  heart  without  filling  it ;  but  nothing  of  soul-stirring  passion 
or  of  ardent  self-forgetfulness.  There  are  poetic  dialogues 
between  two  lovers,  or  between  mother  and  daughter,  wife 
and  husband.  There  are  short  stories,  in  couplets — romances 
of  "  fair  Eglantine  before  her  mother,  sewing  a  shirt,"  of 
"  fair  Amelot  spinning  alone  in  her  chamber."  Or,  fair 

1  Talis  arose  early:  "Good-day  to  him  who  has  my  heart." 
Beautifully  she  arrayed  herself,  and  adorned  herself  under  the  alders. 
"Good-day  to  him  who  has  my  heart;  he  is  not  with  me." 

76 


LYRIC    POETRY 

Erembour  sees,  passing  by  her  window,  Count  Renaud,  who 
has  deserted  her;  she  calls  to  him,  and  clears  herself  of  the 
suspicion  of  infidelity  which  kept  him  away.  Such  are  the 
spinning  songs  of  the  rude,  early  French  period — poor,  but 
spontaneous,  and  not  to  be  confounded  with  the  mediocre 
imitations  by  Audefroi  le  Batard,  in  the  thirteenth  century. 

The  dancing  songs  consisted  essentially  of  couplets  and 
refrains-— rowdete,  ballettes,  virelis,  from  which  originated 
the  rondeaux,  ballades,  virelais  of  the  fourteenth  century, 
with  fixed  forms.  The  parting  of  the  lovers,  warned  of  the 
dawn  by  the  lark,  and,  later,  by  the  watcher,  constitutes  the 
genre  called  aubade*  (from  aube,  dawn).  The  two  most  im- 
portant kinds  of  the  old  French  lyrics  are  the  "  Romances," 
also  called  Chansons  de  toile,  from  songs  sung  when  weav- 
ing linen  (toile),  the  subject  of  which  is  usually  a  young  girl 
of  noble  birth  and  some  knight.  The  other  genre  is  the 
Pastourelle  (feminine  form  of  pastoureau,  shepherd),  the 
rhythms  of  which  were  particularly  lively  and  graceful  and 
whose  contents  depicted  the  meeting  of  a  knight  and  a 
shepherdess  who  sometimes  accepted,  sometimes  refused  him. 
These  two  genres  were  perhaps  imported  from  the  South ;  yet, 
treating,  as  they  do,  of  universally  human  subjects,  they  may 
have  grown  spontaneously. 

We  find,  also,  some  early  songs  filled  with  a  human  sen- 
timent far  removed  from  the  theme  of  love.  A  crusader's 
song,  composed  before  1147,  is  more  oratorical  than  lyrical, 
colored  more  with  reason  than  with  passion,  and  significant 
in  its  use  of  a  didatic  moral : 

Comtes  ni  dues  ni  les  rois  couronne's 
Ne  se  pourront  a  la  mort  derober : 
Car,  quand  ils  ont  grands  tresors  amasses, 
Plus  il  leur  faut  partir  a  grand  regret. 
Mieux  leur  valut  les  employer  a  bien : 
Car  quand  ils  sont  en  terre  ensevelis, 
Ne  leur  sert  plus  ni  chateau  ni  cite.2 

1  The  morning  counterpart  of  the  serenade. 

2  Nor  counts  nor  dukes  nor  crowned  kings  can  cheat  death;  for  when 
they  have  amassed  great  treasures,  the  more  they  must  be  loath  to  go. 
Better  for  them  to  have  used  these  treasures  for  good;  for  when  they  are 
buried  in  the  ground,  neither  castle  nor  stronghold  is  of  use  to  them. 

77 


THE    HISTORY   OF    FRENCH   LITERATURE 

With  this  production  we  see  general  ideas  entering  into 
French  literature:  the  road  is  opened  which  leads  to  Mal- 
herbe.  But  up  to  this  time  French  lyricism  had  little  value ; 
no  one  thought  even  of  collecting  its  examples.  Then,  about 
1150,  the  rich  Provencal  influence  began  to  interrupt  the 
current  of  original  French  lyrics  by  introducing  an  artificial 
and  learned  poetry  in  France,  yet,  at  the  same  time,  raising 
the  respect  for  lyric  verses,  and  thus  preserving  for  us  some 
remnants  of  the  popular  productions  of  former  centuries. 
The  creation  of  Provencal  poetry  is  due,  to  a  considerable 
extent,  to  woman ;  from  her  it  received  its  subject  and  inspira- 
tion. For,  in  Provence,  social  conditions  gave  woman  a 
dominion,  and  made  her  taste  a  law.  The  baron  of  the  North, 
inclosed  within  the  thick  walls  of  his  fortress,  dreamt  only 
of  war.  But  the  nobles  of  the  South — at  peace  under  two  or 
three  great  counts ;  rich,  living  in  cities,  enamored  of  festivals 
and  tournaments,  with  a  spirit  already  open  to  culture  and 
ideals,  their  ears  trained  to  rhythm — created  for  themselves 
a  literature  in  harmony  with  the  physical  and  social  condi- 
tions of  their  lives.  In  their  leisure,  love  became  the  fore- 
most affair;  and  in  order  to  please  woman,  they  acquired 
polish,  humanity  and  freed  themselves  from  feudal  igno- 
rance and  brutality.  There  was  less  need  of  epics  than  of  a 
lyric  poetry. 

Demogeot,  in  his  History  of  French  Literature,  tells  us 
that  the  epic  songs  of  the  language  of  the  North  have  un- 
rolled before  us  the  ideal  picture  of  feudalism — a  vast  scene 
of  history  in  which  the  life  of  the  Middle  Ages  is  disclosed 
in  its  entirety.  But  there  is  another  class  of  poems  which 
reveals  them  to  us  from  a  different  point  of  view.  These  are 
the  small  genre  pictures — portraits  which  portray  so  well  the 
costume  and  the  physiognomy  of  the  epoch,  that  they  form 
the  indispensable  complement  of  the  large  canvases,  and 
lend  them  truth  and  life.  First,  and  especially  in  the  South, 
lyric  inspiration  awakens.  Happy  flower  of  the  climate, 
it  was  born  there,  as  it  were,  without  cultivation;  under  a 
more  gracious  sky,  under  less  barbarous  governments,  men 
allowed  themselves  to  embrace  earlier  the  sweet  seductions 
of  life.  In  that  land  all  women  were  loved,  all  knights  were 
poets.  The  noblest  lords,  the  proudest  Burgraves  of  Pro- 

78 


LYRIC    POETRY 

venee  and  of  Languedoc,  the  Counts  of  Toulouse,  the  Dukes 
of  Aquitaine,  the  Dauphins  of  Vienne  and  of  Auvergne,  the 
Princes  of  Orange,  the  Counts  of  Foix — all  these  composed 
and  sang  verses.  Often,  even  a  page  at  court,  sometimes 
even  the  son  of  a  serf,  was  honored,  through  his  talent,  only 
less  than  his  noble  master,  provided  he  possessed  intelligence 
and  an  elegant  deportment. 

After  Provence  had  detached  herself  from  Northern 
France  and  formed  an  independent  State  *  under  Boson  I  and 
his  successors,  she  became  happy  and  tranquil  under  her  ob- 
scure and  paternal  sovereigns,  and  saw  her  population  and 
her  wealth  growing;  the  customs  became  refined,  the  lan- 
guage polished,  and  a  harmonious  instrument  in  the  hands 
of  its  first  poets.  The  fusion  of  one  part  of  Provence  with 
Catalonia,2  under  the  rule  of  Raymond-Beranger,  in  1092, 
imparted  a  new  movement  to  the  southern  spirit.  Boson, 
governor  of  Provence  under  Charles  the  Bald,  freed  himself 
after  the  king's  death,  in  897,  from  French  sovereignty,  and 
founded  the  kingdom  of  Aries  (Cisjurane  Burgundy).  The 
city  of  Aries  was  called  ' '  Gallic  Rome  ' '  from  its  importance. 
The  two  peoples  spoke  almost  the  same  language.  The  spirit 
of  the  one,  the  wealth  of  the  other,  produced  an  elegance  of 
customs  still  unknown  to  the  other  regions.  The  influence 
of  Spain  since  the  eleventh  century  had  its  effect  on  this 
blossoniing  literature,  developing  a  strong  lyrical  tendency 
which  lasted  until  the  thirteenth  century.  The  splendor  of 
the  courts  of  Barcelona,  Granada  and  Cordova,  the  mag- 
nificence of  Moorish  architecture,  made  known  by  the  large 
number  of  French,  Provencal,  and  Gascon  knights  who  had 
joined  King  Alphonse  IV  of  Castile  and  the  Cid 3  Rodriguez 
de  Bivar,  were  sources  of  inspiration. 

Through  the  knights  of  Arabia,  who  visited  the  courts 

1  Ancient  Hispania,  Tarraconensis,  overrun  by  the  Alani,  Goths,  and, 
later,  by  the  Saracens. 

3  United  to  Aragon  in  1137,  but  in  revolt  against  the  Spanish  sol- 
diery, Catalonia  gave  herself  to  France  and  became  the  patrimony  of 
Raymond. 

1  The  principal  national  hero  of  Spain,  famous  for  his  exploits  against 
the  Moors;  but,  of  course,  the  Cid  of  the  Chronicle  is  not  at  all  the  Cid  of 
the  Romances. 

79 


THE    HISTORY    OF    FRENCH   LITERATURE 

of  Christian  princes/  Oriental  poetry  became  gradually  infil- 
trated into  the  languages  of  the  South,  and  with  the  aid  of 
music,  instilled  into  them  not  only  its  inspirations,  but 
its  harmony  and  its  rhythmic  form.  With  the  exception  of 
a  small  number  of  epic  works2  which  Fauriel  (French  liter- 
ary historian,  1772-1844),  and  Raynouard  (1761-1836)  have 
made  known  to  us,  the  only  monuments  of  the  southern  muse 
are  certain  impulsive  effusions  of  sentiment  or  spirit.  They 
resemble  not  so  much  literary  compositions  as  the  melodious 
music  of  that  life  of  love  and  pleasure  which  passed  joyfully 
from  the  tournaments  of  the  castles  to  the  eternal  feasts  of 
a  smiling  climate.  To  produce  such  works  it  was  not  neces- 
sary to  be  a  great  cleric  and  to  know  how  to  read;  it  was 
enough  to  have  a  heart  capable  of  love.  One  of  the  chief 
merits  of  those  charming  songs  is  entirely  lost  for  him  who 
cannot  read  them  easily  in  their  original  language.  The 
Provencal  rhythm  is  inflected  by  the  troubadours  with  a  co- 
quetry full  of  grace — "  like  a  ribbon  with  striking  colors 
which  floats  and  vanishes  in  a  knot  artistically  formed."  "  I 
confess,"  says  Raynouard,  "  that  I  have  tried  in  vain  to 
offer  a  translation  of  them;  the  sentiment,  the  grace,  cannot 
be  translated.  These  are  delicate  flowers,  the  fragrance  of 
which  must  be  breathed  on  the  plant."  "  To  enjoy  those 
songs,"  says  Schlegel,  "  which  have  charmed  so  many  illus- 
trious sovereigns,  so  many  brave  knights,  so  many  ladies 
famous  for  their  beauty,  one  must  hear  those  troubadours 
themselves,  and  try  to  understand  their  language.  If  you 
do  not  want  to  take  that  trouble,  well,  then,  you  are  con- 
demned to  read  the  translations  of  Abbe  Millet  "  (French 
scholar  of  the  eighteenth  century).  The  number  of  known 
troubadours  is  more  than  five  hundred,  among  whom  the 
most  famous  are :  Bertrand  de  Born  and  Bernard  de  Venta- 
dour  of  the  Limousin  group,  Arnaud  de  Marveil,  Richard 
Cffiur  de  Lion,  King  Alphonse  of  Aragon,  William  IX  of 
Poitou,  the  oldest  known  troubadour,  Prince  Geoffroy  Rudel 
de  Blaya,  and  Clara  d'Anduze.  The  theme  for  their  songs 
was  principally  love  and  the  troubadours  disguised  the  iden- 

1  See  description  in  the  Dernier  Abend-rage  of  Chateaubriand. 

2  See  Gerard  de  Roussillon;  Jaufre  e  Brunesentz;  Chronique  des  Albigeois; 
Roman  de  Flamenca;  Roman  de  Fierabras. 

80 


LYRIC    POETRY 

tity  of  the  ladies  by  substituting  names  of  fantasy,  such  as: 
Gent  conquis  (Fair  captive),  Sobre  totz  (Above  all),  Bel  vezer 
(Beautiful  countenance),  and  even  Mon  diable  (My  devil). 

Arnaut  de  Marveil  or  Marpill,  a  poor  serf  who  became  a 
skillful  troubadour,  attached  to  the  court  of  Viscount  de 
Beziers,  had  fallen  in  love  with  Countess  Adelaide,  daughter 
of  Raymond  V,  Count  of  Toulouse.  Singing,  under  a  ficti- 
tious name,  of  the  lady  he  loved,  he  traces  thus  ingenuously 
her  picture :  Pus  blanca  eg  que  Elena> 

Belhazors  que  flora  que  nays, 
E  de  cortezia  plenia, 

Blanca  dens  ab  motz  verays, 
Ab  cor  franc  ses  vilanatge, 

Color  f resca  ab  sauras  cri : 
Dieus  que'l  det  lo  senhoratage 

La  sal  qu'anc  gensor  no  vi.1 

He  finally  disclosed  himself  as  the  author  of  the  songs; 
but  no  sooner  had  the  countess  encouraged  him,  than  she  was 
forced  to  dismiss  the  poet  at  the  behest  of  her  royal  suitor, 
King  Alphonse  of  Castile.  So  Arnaut  went  forth  in  despair, 
and  sought  refuge  with  his  friend  and  seignior,  William  of 
Montpellier.  The  fountains  of  his  grief  were  opened,  and  he 

"  Sweet  my  musings  used  to  be,1 
Without  shadow  of  distress, 
Till  the  queen  of  loveliness, 
Lowly,  mild,  yet  frank  as  day, 
Bade  me  put  her  love  away, 

Love  so  deeply  wrought  in  me. 
And  because  I  answered  not, 
Nay,  nor  e'en  her  mercy  sought, 
All  the  joy  of  life  is  gone, 
For  it  lived  in  her  alone." 

1  Fairer  than  the  far-famed  Helen, 
Lovelier  than  the  flow'rets  gay, 
Snow-white  teeth,  and  lips  truth-telling, 

Heart  as  open  as  the  day; 
Golden  hair,  and  fresh  bright  roses — 

God,  who  formed  a  thing  so  fair, 
Knows  that  never  yet  another 

Lived,  who  can  with  her  compare. 
J  Mot  ernn  dout  miei  cosair.     Harriet  W.  Preston's  translation. 

7  81 


THE    HISTORY   OP    FRENCH   LITERATURE 

Another  famous  troubadour  was  Bertran  de  Born,1  whose 
adventurous  life  and  turbulent  humor,  Villemain  has  set 
forth  in  an  interesting  fashion.  This  great  lord,  Viscount 
of  Hautefort,  belonging  to  the  twelfth  century,  whom  Uh- 
land  and  Heine  have  immortalized  in  their  beautiful  poems, 
was  called  Tyrta?us  because  he  inspired  with  his  fiery  songs 
the  warriors  of  France  against  the  English  invaders.  But  he 
was  of  a  disposition  warlike,  violent,  passionate,  and  unscrupu- 
lous, and,  says  Faguet,  deserved  in  spite  of  his  final  penitence 
in  the  Convent  of  Citeaux,  to  be  placed  by  Dante  in  his 
"  Hell."  In  his  verses  he  sometimes  affords  a  strange  relief 
to  the  love  songs  of  his  contemporaries  by  a  fortunate  admix- 
ture of  warlike  sentiment  and  pictures  borrowed  from  feudal 
life.  Thus  does  he  appeal  to  his  lady-love  2  from  the  slanders 
of  his  enemies : 

(Jeu  m'escondic  que  mat  non  mier 

De  so  qu'ens  an  de  mi  dig  lauzengier,  etc.) 

I  cannot  hide  from  thee  how  much  I  fear 
The  whispers  breathed  by  flatterers  in  thine  ear 
Against  my  faith.     But  turn  not,  oh,  I  pray, 
That  heart  so  true,  so  faithful,  so  sincere, 
So  humble  and  so  frank,  to  me  so  dear, 
O,  lady  turn  it  not  from  me  away! 

So  may  I  lose  my  hawk,  ere  he  can  spring, 
Borne  from  my  hand  by  some  bold  falcon's  wing, 
Mangled  and  torn  before  my  very  eye, 
If  every  word  thou  utterest  does  not  bring 
More  joy  to  me  than  Fortune's  favoring, 
Or  all  the  bliss  another's  love  might  buy. 

1  An  indefatigable  fighter,  who  incited  the  two  sons  of  Henry  II  of 
England  to  revolt  against  their  father.     He  lost  his  castle  twice.     Dante, 
in  his  Inferno,  describes  him  carrying  his  own  bloody  head,  which  still 
seems  to  menace  and  to  curse. 

2  Maenz  de  Montagnac,  daughter  of  the  Viscount  de  Turenne  and  wife  of 
Taleyrand  de  Pe"rigord.     The  song  herewith  reproduced  places  before  us, 
says  Sismondi,  the  real  knight  of  olden  times,  busied  with  war  and  the 
chase,  successively  appealing  to  everything  that  is  dear  to  him  in  life,  to 
everything  which  has  been  the  study  of  his  youth  and  his  riper  age,  and 
yet  esteeming  them  all  light,  in  comparison  with  love. 

82 


LYRIC    POETRY 

So,  with  my  shield  on  neck,  'mid  storm  and  raid, 

With  vizor  blinding  me,  and  shorten 'd  rein, 

And  stirrups  far  too  long,  so  may  I  ride, 

So  may  my  trotting  charger  give  me  pain ; 

So  may  the  ostler  treat  me  with  disdain, 

As  they  who  tell  those  tales  have  grossly  lied. 

When  I  approach  the  gaming  board  to  play, 

May  I  not  turn  a  penny  all  the  day, 

Or  may  the  board  be  shut,  the  dice  untrue, 

If  the  truth  dwell  not  in  me  when  I  say 

No  other  fair  e'er  wiled  my  heart  away 

From  her  I've  long  desired  and  loved — from  you. 

Or,  prisoner  to  some  noble,  may  I  fill, 

Together  with  three  more,  some  dungeon  chill, 

Unto  each  other  odious  company; 

Let  masters,  servants,  porters,  try  their  skill 

And  use  me  for  a  target  if  they  will, 

If  ever  I  have  loved  aught  else  but  thee. 

So  may  another  knight  make  love  to  you, 

And  so  may  I  be  puzzled  what  to  do; 

So  may  I  be  becalmed  'mid  oceans  wide ; 

May  the  king's  porter  beat  me  black  and  blue; 

And  may  I  fly  ere  I  the  battle  view, 

As  they  that  slander  me  have  grossly  lied. 

His  poetry — like  himself — is  powerful,  ardent,  passionate; 
his  sirventes  are  satires,  challenges,  duels. 

The  troubadours  often  made  use  of  little  satirical  poems 
which  they  hurled  at  their  rivals,  their  lords,  the  kings,  the 
clergy,  and  sometimes  even  at  the  ladies.  These  poems  in 
which  satire  intermingled  with  warlike  inspiration  were 
called  sirventes  *  which  originally  meant  service  songs,  that 
is,  songs  used  in  the  service  of  certain  lords  or  of  factions 
(associated  principally  with  the  Ghibellines) .  The  sirventes 
in  the  twelfth  and  thirteenth  centuries  took  the  place  of  the 
newspaper  or  pamphlet  against  the  Pope  and  were  circulated 
from  castle  to  castle  in  southern  France. 

1  "  Poemata  in  quibus  servientium,  sen  militum  facta  et  servilia  refer- 
untur." — Du  Cange,  Siruentois. 

83 


THE    HISTORY   OF    FRENCH   LITERATURE 

The  most  piquant  form  in  which  the  Provencals  composed 
the  love  song  was  the  so-called  tenson,  or  dialogue  poem  of 
repartee  (Jeu  parti)  between  two  troubadours — a  kind  of 
poetic  tournament  to  which  they  challenged  one  another  in 
the  presence  of  ladies  and  knights.  According  to  Jean  Nos- 
tradamus, the  tensons  were  disputations  carried  on  between 
the  poetical  knights  and  ladies  on  some  subtle  question  of 
love;  and  when  they  could  not  agree  the  disputants  sent 
the  tensons,  for  decision,  to  illustrious  presiding  ladies  who 
held  open  "courts  of  love,"  a  chivalrous  institution  existing 
from  the  twelfth  to  the  fourteenth  centuries.  In  these  gal- 
lant courts  the  ladies  presided  and  passed  judgment  in  "  de- 
crees of  love  "  (arrests  d' amour}.  In  a  code  called  De  Arte 
Amatoria  et  Reprobationis  amoris  (1174)  written  by  Andre 
the  court  chaplain,  are  cited  the  cours  d' amour  of  Ermin- 
gard,  Countess  of  Narbonne,  of  Queen  Eleanor  of  Guyenne, 
of  Marie  of  France,  Countess  of  Champagne.  In  another 
list,  supplied  by  Nostradamus,  Laura  de  Noves,  wife  of  Hugh 
de  Sade,  is  mentioned  among  the  principals  in  a  court  of 
Avignon.  It  was  Laura,  the  "  lady  with  the  beautiful  blond 
and  wavy  hair,"  who  inspired  Petrarcha.1  Her  beauty,  her 
virtue,  and  her  mind  conquered  all  hearts.  Petrarcha,  who 
lived  at  Avignon,  saw  Laura  and  loved  her — loved  her  for 
twenty  years,  even  for  ten  years  after  her  death.  His  poems 
of  which  she  is  the  subject  embrace  three  hundred  and  eight- 
een sonnets  and  eighty-eight  songs.  Laura  did  not  wish  to 

1  Petrarch  (Francesco  Petrarcha)  (1304-1374),  one  of  Italy's  greatest 
poets,  whose  sonnets  to  Laura  have  won  him  enduring  fame,  was  born  at 
Arezzo  (Italy),  and  came  to  Avignon  at  the  age  of  five  years.  His  family 
had  fled  their  native  land  because  of  its  unhappy  strife.  Petrarcha  studied 
at  Avignon,  and  later,  to  please  his  family,  he  studied  law  at  Montpellier. 
The  poet  was  much  sought  after  because  of  his  amiable  and  sweet  dis- 
position. Rome,  Naples,  and  the  Court  of  France  contended  for  his 
presence.  He  betook  himself  to  Rome,  where  he  was  crowned  poet 
laureate  at  the  Church  of  St.  Peter;  and  he  suspended  his  crown  in  the 
vault  of  the  edifice,  to  render  homage  to  God  for  his  genius.  Venice 
finally  accorded  justice  to  the  family  of  the  poet,  returning  to  him  his 
fortune  and  inviting  him  to  live  there,  but  he  refused.  He  retired  to 
Arco,  where  he  died  at  the  age  of  seventy  years.  Petrarcha  wrote  in 
French  as  well  as  in  Italian,  and  it  was  France  that  nourished  and  stimu- 
lated his  genius. 

84 


LYRIC   POETRY 

marry  the  poet,  lest  he  cease  to  sing.  To  dispel  his  cares, 
Petrarcha  traveled;  then  he  returned  to  Vaucluse.  Laura 
de  Noves  died  of  the  plague,  when  she  was  thirty-eight  years 
of  age.  Petrarcha,  who  was  then  at  Naples,  hastened  to 
Vaucluse  to  weep  over  his  beloved,  whose  body  was  interred 
in  the  monastery  of  the  Dominicans. 

Anything  like  a  comprehensive  enumeration  of  the  trou- 
badours would  expand  this  chapter  disproportionately;  even 
Raynouard's1  Choix  des  Poesies  originates  des  Troubadours 
(1816)  embraces  a  list  of  some  three  hundred  poets.  Yet 
such  is  their  relation  to  the  society  and  the  literature  of  the 
period,  and  with  so  much  romantic  interest  are  their  personal- 
ities and  productions  invested,  that  some  of  them,  at  least, 
must  be  mentioned  if  only  in  the  briefest  fashion. 

William  of  Poitiers,2  crusader,  king,  lover,  was  first  of 
all,  a  man  of  action,  yet  he  found  time  in  the  heat  of  his 
turbulent  carer  to  compose  poems  in  many  keys,  of  a  finish 
and  quality  that  compel  our  admiration.  His  verses  inspired 
by  "  the  tender  passion,"  and  supposed  to  reflect  his  own 
peculiar  amatory  adventures,  are  not  at  all  meat  for  babes; 
but  William  sometimes  voices  his  sentiments  in  the  language 
of  chivalry  and  idealism.  Characteristic  of  this  vein  is  his 
spring  poem  (Pus  vezem  de  novelh  florir,  etc.)  : 

1  English  readers  who  cannot  enjoy  the  originals,  and  for  whom  Ray- 
nouard  is  a  closed  book,  will  find  no  considerable  body  of  good  translations 
in  any  one  volume.  They  must  seek  for  them  in  the  scattered  pages  of 
various  essayists  and  historians.  The  translations  reproduced  in  this 
chapter  are  taken,  in  part,  from  Henry  Carrington's  Anthology  of  French 
Poetry,  from  the  tenth  to  the  nineteenth  centuries;  Sismondi'a  Historical 
View  of  the  Literature  of  the  South  of  Europe,  Roscoe's  translation;  Har- 
riet W.  Preston's  Troubadours  and  Trouvbres,  New  and  Old. 

J  William  IX,  Count  of  Poitiers  and  Duke  of  Aquitaine  (born  1071; 
died  1127),  reigned  over  Germany,  the  northern  half  of  Aquitaine,  Berry, 
Limousin,  Auvergne.  Refusing  to  join  the  first  Crusade,  in  1095,  he  could 
not,  upon  the  capture  of  Jerusalem,  four  years  later,  resist  the  call  for  aid 
voiced  by  the  little  band  of  Red  Cross  Knights  in  the  Holy  Land.  He 
signalized  his  departure  by  a  poetic  lament  that  expresses  his  poignant 
emotions  on  leaving  his  young  son  and  his  beloved  land,  to  engage  in  an 
expedition  so  little  to  his  taste,  and  naively  exhibits  the  conflict  between 
his  natural  impulses  and  a  sense  of  duty.  He  survived  this  perilous  cam- 
paign and  lived  twenty-five  years  longer. 

85 


THE    HISTORY   OF    FRENCH   LITERATURE 

Behold!  the  meads  are  green  again, 
The  orchard-bloom  is  seen  again 
Of  sky  and  stream  the  mien  again 

Is  mild,  is  bright; 
Now  should  each  heart  that  loves  obtain 

Its  own  delight. 

But  I  will  say  no  ill  of  love, 
However  slight  my  guerdon  prove : 
Repining  doth  not  me  behoove ; 

And  yet — to  know 
How  lightly  she,  I  fain  would  move, 

Might  bliss  bestow! 

There  are  who  hold  my  folly  great; 
Because  with  little  hope  I  wait; 
But  one  old  saw  doth  animate 

And  me  assure: 
Their  hearts  are  high,  their  might  is  great, 

Who  well  endure. 

It  was  this  same  poet  of  spring  and  love — with  little  affec- 
tion for  church  and  clergy — who  drew  his  sword  upon  the 
Bishop  of  Poitiers  when  that  prelate  was  in  the  very  act  of 
excommunicating  him  because  of  some  notorious  scandal. 
But  the  doughty  bishop  was  too  quick  for  him.  "  Strike," 
said  he,  "  for  I  have  done."  "  That  I  shall  not,"  said  Wil- 
liam, sheathing  his  sword,  "  for  I  think  too  ill  of  you  to 
send  you  to  Paradise." 

Of  greater  and  more  abundant  poetic  gifts,  and  of  a  more 
copious  output,  was  Bernard  of  Ventadorn  (or  Ventadour), 
son  of  a  baker,  and  foremost  among  the  sweet  singers  of 
Provence.  Born  about  1130,  his  poetic  powers  were  fostered 
by  his  patron  and  seignior,  Ebles  II.  It  was  the  youthful 
wife  of  Ebles — the  lively  and  gentle  Adelaide  of  Montpellier 
— whom  he  first  enshrined  in  his  verses.  They  came  to  love 
one  another,  and  this  did  not  please  the  lady's  husband;  so 
Bernard  was  given  his  conge.  Going  thence,  he  found  con- 
solation at  the  feet  of  the  Duchess  of  Normandy,  who  was  no 
less  a  personage  than  Eleanor,  granddaughter  of  William  of 
Poitiers,  divorced  from  Henry  VII  of  France  and  married  to 

86 


Henry  II  of  England,  becoming  the  mother  of  Richard  Coeur 
de  Lion.  The  youthful  Bernard,  at  this  time,  was  ten  years 
younger  than  Eleanor — she  herself  was  but  thirty-three,  and 
wondrously  attractive.  % 

Richard  CCEUT  de  Lion  (1157-1199),  warrior,  King  of 
England  and  troubadour,  was  made  prisoner  after  his  return 
from  the  third  Crusade,  by  Henry  IV,  Emperor  of  Germany. 
Richard's  favorite  troubadour,  Blondel  de  Nesles,  traveled 
throughout  the  empire  in  search  of  his  place  of  captivity, 
singing  at  every  stronghold  a  song  which  he  and  Richard 
had  composed.  At  the  Castle  of  Durrenstein,  his  faithful- 
ness was  rewarded  by  hearing  Richard's  voice  in  answer. 
Blondel  made  known  the  whereabouts  of  the  royal  prisoner 
to  the  Queen  Mother  in  England,  who  soon  ransomed  her  son. 

"  Needs  must  I  sing,  I  have  no  other  choice, 
Although  I  find  but  grief  and  weariness  ; 

Still,  it  is  always  better  to  rejoice, 
Yielding  to  grief  is  ever  profitless : 

Yet  not  as  one  beloved  I  sing  my  lay, 

But  as  in  sorrow,  pensive  and  astray, 
And  since  of  good  I  see  no  likeliness, 

By  words  I  am  forever  led  away. 

"  One  thing  I  tell  in  which  I  naught  deceive — 
That  in  all  love  is  chance  and  fickleness ; 

And  were  I  able  her  control  to  leave, 

It  were  more  worth  than  did  I  France  possess; 

But  in  despair  and  madness  oft  I  say, 

Better  the  memory  of  her  charms  should  stay, 
Of  her  great  wisdom  and  sweet  gentleness, 

Than  to  hold  all  the  world  beneath  my  sway." 1 

These  verses  are  the  work  of  Thiebaut  IV  (1201-1253), 
who  preeminently  naturalized  in  the  North  the  graceful 
compositions  of  the  troubadours.  Grandson  of  a  king  of 
Navarre,  son  and  successor  of  a  count  of  Champagne,  edu- 

1  Sismondi  notes  that  the  poems  of  the  King  of  Navarre  are  exceedingly 
difficult  to  comprehend.  Antique  words  were  long  considered  in  France 
as  more  poetical  than  modern  ones;  and  thus,  while  the  language  of  prose 
was  polished  and  perfected,  that  of  poetry  retained  all  its  early  obscurity. 

87 


THE    HISTORY   OF    FRENCH   LITERATURE 

cated  in  the  South  and  passing  his  life  among  the  men  of  the 
North — he  was  admirably  qualified  as  a  poetic  adapter.  He 
imitated  the  troubadours,  but  in  doing  so  he  elevated  their 
songs,  and  seasoned  them  with  a  little  of  the  salt  of  the 
trouveres. 

Froissart,  called  historien  errant  (wandering  historian) 
— author  of  ballades,  rondeaux,  virelais — is  a  charming  nar- 
rator even  in  verse.  There  is  nothing  more  ingenious  than 
his  Dit  du  Florin  (What  the  Florin  said) — a  piquant  con- 
versation between  the  author  and  a  solitary  piece  of  money 
which,  by  chance,  remained  in  his  purse;  nothing  is  more 
amusing  than  IA  Debat  du  Cheval  et  du  Levrier — the  dia- 
logue between  the  horse  that  carries  the  poet  on  his  adven- 
turous excursions  and  the  faithful  hound  that  follows  him. 
In  a  long  allegory  entitled  Li  Horloge  d' Amour  (The  Clock 
of  Love)  he  compares,  piece  by  piece,  the  heart  of  man  with 
a  clock.  Each  passion  corresponds  to  a  part  of  the  machine : 
desire  is  the  main  spring,  beauty  serves  as  a  balance-wheel, 
and  so  on.  Here  is  a  brief  specimen  of  his  verse  taken  from 
Longfellow's  Poetry  of  Europe. 

Take  time  while  yet  it  is  in  view, 

For  Fortune  is  a  fickle  fair; 
Days  fade,  and  others  spring  anew, 

Then  take  the  moment  still  in  view. 

What  boots  to  toil  and  cares  pursue? 

Each  month  a  new  moon  hangs  in  air; 
Take  then  the  moment  still  in  view, 

For  Fortune  is  a  fickle  fair. 

Arnaud  Daniel,  of  the  Perigord  group  of  troubadours, 
Petrarch  has  placed  in  his  Triomphes  (Fourth  Triomphe) ; 
and  Dante  in  his  Purgatory  says  of  him:  "  This  one  sur- 
passes all  the  poets  of  his  country  by  his  love  songs  and  his 
romance  prose." 

Guiraut  de  Bornelh,  or  Borneil,1  who  loved  and  sang  in 
the  first  half  of  the  thirteenth  century,  belongs  well  up  in  the 

1  He  was  the  first  troubadour  who  made  a  chanson,  as,  up  to  that  time, 
poems  were  called  verses,  but  never  songs. 

88 


LYEIC   POETRY 

list  of  troubadours.  His  ancient  biographer,  indeed,  insists 
that  there  was  never  a  better  troubadour;  and  the  weight 
of  opinion  seems  to  be  with  him,  and  against  the  judgment 
of  Dante,  who  preferred  Arnaut  Daniel.  In  the  winter, 
Guiraut  de  Bornelh  studied  in  one  of  the  schools  where,  it 
would  seem,  formal  instruction  in  the  troubadour  poetry  was 
afforded  at  this  particular  period ;  and  ' '  all  summer  ' '  says 
his  biographer,  "  he  journeyed  from  court  to  court,  accom- 
panied by  two  jongleurs 1  who  performed  his  songs.  Guiraut 
was  a  master  of  the  chanson;  his  love  songs  are  remarkable 
for  their  lyric  power  and  profound  emotion.  And,  late  in 
life,  when  a  civil  and  semireligious  war  blackened  the  beauty 
of  the  land,  he  rose  to  his  full  height  as  the  poet  of  his  coun- 
try's desolatiota.  The  loftiness  of  his  amatory  sentiment 
appears  in  an  aubade  ("  Reis  glorios,  verais  lums  e  clar- 
datz  "),  of  which  these  stanzas  are  but  a  part: 

All-glorious  king,  who  dost  illuminate 
All  ways  of  men,  upon  thy  grace  I  wait; 
Praying  thy  shelter  for  my  spirit's  queen, 
Whom  all  the  darkling  hours  I  have  not  seen; 
And  now  the  dawn  is  near. 

Sleepest  or  wakest,  lady  of  my  vows  ? 
Oh,  sleep  no  more,  but  lift  thy  quiet  brows; 
For  now  the  Orient's  most  lovely  star 
Grows  large  and  bright,  welcoming  from  afar 
The  dawn  that  now  is  near. 

Oh,  sleep  no  more,  but  gracious  audience  give; 
What  time  with  the  awakening  birds  I  strive, 
Who  seek  the  day  amid  the  leafage  dark, 
To  me,  to  me,  not  to  that  other,  hark, 
For  now  the  dawn  is  near. 

Among  the  well-known  troubadours  may  be  mentioned: 
Marcabrun  (probably  a  contemporary  of  William  of  Poi- 
tiers), whose  verses  are  so  rarely  concerned  with  love  that 

1  In  company  with  a  troubadour  were  usually  one  or  two  jongleurs,  who 
afforded  diversion  to  the  audience  with  jokes  and  juggles,  and  sometimes 
performed  the  songs.  . 

89 


THE    HISTORY   OF    FRENCH   LITERATURE 

he  enjoys  a  unique  distinction  as  the  only  troubadour  person- 
ally immune  to  that  malady.  The  shockingly  tragic  history 
of  William  of  Cabestaing  together  with  that  of  his  sweetheart, 
the  Lady  Soremonda,  lends  a  peculiar  interest  to  his  poems, 
seven  of  which  have  been  preserved.1  The  story  runs  that 
Raymond  of  Roussillon  killed  Cabestaing  from  jealousy,  and 
then  served  his  heart  in  a  repast  to  Lady  Raymond.  After 
she  had  unsuspectingly  partaken  of  it,  her  husband  exultingly 
made  known  to  her  the  fact.  She  replied  that  since  she  had 
tasted  such  noble  food,  she  would  taste  no  other,  and  starved 
to  death.2  Raimon  de  Miraval  "  loved  a  great  many  ladies, 
some  of  whom  treated  him  well,  and  others  ill, ' '  and  he  wrote 
verses  which  showed  less  sincerity  than  ingenuity  and  grace. 
Raimbaut  de  Vaqueiras  whose  singular  adventure  with  the 
Lady  Beatrice  of  Montferrat  has  been  set  forth  in  detail  by 
his  ancient  biographer — a  poet  in  whose  elaborate  ' '  lament  ' ' 
"  we  seem  to  hear  the  trumpet  contending  with  the  lute." 
Vaqueiras  fell  in  battle  along  with  his  master  Montferrat,  in 
the  expedition  against  Constantinople  in  1207.  Pierre  Car- 
denal3  subtle,  intellectual,  inquiring,  was  a  kind  of  Omar 
Khayyam  of  the  Middle  Ages.  In  one  of  his  daring  sirventes, 
he  rehearses  the  bold  defense  he  means  to  make  when  sum- 
moned before  the  judgment  seat  of  God.  Another  trouba- 
dour, Peter  of  Auvergne,  was  surnamed  ' '  The  Ancient, ' '  and 
Bertrand  of  Alamanon  was  but  an  echo  of  his  greater  pre- 
decessors. 

Some  of  the  troubadours  followed  the  crusaders  to  Pales- 
tine, but  even  they  dreamed  only  of  love ;  one,  Prince  Geoffrey 
Rudel  de  Blaya,  set  sail  for  the  Holy  Land  only  because  he 
was  possessed  by  a  strange  passion  for  the  Countess  of  Tripoli, 
whom  he  had  never  seen.  So  he  went  to  offer  her  his  heart, 
and  to  die  when  he  should  look  into  her  beautiful  eyes. 

1  La  Curne  de  St.  Palaye  spent  many  years  in  collecting  manuscripts  of 
Provencal  poetry,  most  of  which  had  never  been  printed.     Millot  pub- 
lished translations  from  this  collection. 

2  The  same  story  is  told  of  the  "gentil  Sire  de  Coucy  "  and  "la  dame  du 
Fayel " ;  this  novel,  published  in  1839  by  Crapelet,  deserves,  according  to 
Gaston  Paris,  a  place  of  honor  in  the  history  of  literature. 

3  "  Indisputably  the  subtlest  and  most  intellectual  spirit  among  them 
all"  (the  troubadours),  says  the  author  of  Troubadours  and  Trouveres. 

90 


LYRIC   POETRY 

Edmond  Rostand  has  made  use  of  this  episode  for  his  play 
entitled  La  Princesse  Lointaine  (The  Distant  Princess). 

The  troubadours  laid  more  stress  on  the  rhyme  and  rhythm, 
on  the  form  of  expression,  than  on  the  subject  matter,  although 
themes  for  inspiration  were  not  wanting:  the  Conquest  of 
England  by  William  the  Conqueror,  the  capture  of  Jerusa- 
lem by  Godfrey  de  Bouillon,  the  capture  of  Sicily  by  Guiscard 
and  de  Hauteville — great  events  to  excite  the  imagination 
and  inspire  enthusiasm. 

The  wars  of  the  Albigenses  and  the  Waldensians,  helped 
to  silence  the  troubadour's  song;  after  the  wars,  they  still 
sang,  but  it  was  not  the  harmonious  song  of  love,  of  spring, 
of  the  blue  skies  of  that  climate  of  Paradise,  but  the  song  of 
hatred  and  malediction.  Lack  of  profound  inspiration  is 
the  true  cause  of  the  rapid  decadence  of  Provencal  poetry. 
In  the  learned  or  labored  lyricism,  nothing  is  popular — 
neither  the  foundation  nor  the  form.  In  the  overrefinement 
of  thought,  in  the  artificiality  of  the  verses,  these  works  suffer 
from  an  essential  aversion  to  the  common  naturalness;  for 
good  sense  they  substitute  spirit,  and  their  goal  is  the  pleasure 
of  an  elite  of  the  initiated,  and  not  universal  intelligibility. 
However,  after  a  century  of  noble  pastime  and  fashion,  the 
learned  lyricism  declined.  The  French  barons  cooled  off 
and  abandoned  it;  but,  as  had  happened  with  the  epic,  the 
burghers  picked  up  the  art  which  had  lost  the  favor  of  the 
nobles,  and  assured  it  a  new  lease  of  life.  In  the  communi- 
ties of  Picardy  this  gallant  poetry  is  continued  by  Bodel, 
Moniot,  Adam  de  la  Halle,1  till  the  last  years  of  the  thirteenth 
century.  Though  Provencal  still  remained  the  language  of 
the  people,  its  literature  perished,  and  was  revived  only  in 
the  course  of  centuries — a  revival  accomplished  rather  arti- 
ficially and  without  the  recovery  of  the  ancient  vigor. 

1  Jean  Bodel  and  Adam  de  la  Halle  were  both  from  Arras,  a  town  with 
a  great  literary  reputation,  which  caused  Guilbert  de  Berneville,  in  one  of 
his  chansons,  to  represent  God  Himself  descending  to  earth  to  learn  the 
art  of  poesy  in  Arras. 


CHAPTER  VII 

POPULAR   POETRY 

WITH  the  waning  power  of  knighthood  and  the  blossom- 
ing of  burghership,  lyric  poetry  fled  from  the  crumbling  walls 
of  castles  to  towns  and  villages,  and  throwing  off  its  garb  of 
allegory  and  romance,  gave  vent  to  the  natural  and  joyful 
feeling  of  the  people  in  melody — and  thus  song  was  born  dur- 
ing the  fifteenth  century  in  France.  The  few  poets  of  note 
who  bridged  the  dark  Middle  Ages  and  the  Renaissance,  were 
Charles  d 'Orleans,  Villon  and  Basselin.  We  hear  Olivier - 
Basseliji,  the  village  Anacreon  of  Normandy,  laughing  and 
singing1 — "  chantant  en  beuvant,  et  beuvant  en  chantant  " 
("  singing  as  he  drinks,  drinking  as  he  sings  ")  : 

"  Si  voulez  que  je  cause  et  preche, 
Et  parle  latin  proprement, 
Tenez  ma  bouche  toujours  fraiche; 
De  bon  vin  I'arrosant  sou  vent. 
Car  je  vous  dis  certainement, 
Quand  j  'ai  seche  la  bouche, 
Je  n'ai  plus  d'entendement 
Ni  d'esprit  qu'une  souche."1 

His  melodious  rhymes  were  the  first  to  brighten  the  life  of 
dreary  drudgery  led  by  the  people,  and  to  comfort,  like  a 
soothing  potion,  the  hearts  of  the  poor,  crushed  and  discour- 
aged by  taxes  and  war. 

This  Olivier  Basselin,  creator  of  the  modern  song,  gave 
free  vent  in  his  verse  to  his  good-humor,  to  his  copious  mock- 

1  If  you  would  have  me  sing  and  preach,  and  speak  Latin  properly,  my 
tongue  must  be  freshened  and  watered  with  sparkling  wine.  For  I  assure 
you  that  when  my  throat  is  parched  I  have  no  more  mental  apprehension 
than  a  log. 

92 


POPULAR  POETRY 

ery,  and  to  his  sturdy  Norman  hatred  of  the  English.  He 
was  born  at  Vire,  a  small  town  in  Normandy,  about  1390, 
and  was  proprietor  of  a  fuller's  mill  for  the  manufacture  of 
cloth.  Situated  under  the  Cordeliers  Hill,  near  the  Bridge 
of  Vau,  its  ruins,  which  have  preserved  the  name  of  the  Basse- 
lin  mill,  are  still  to  be  seen.  On  the  picturesque  banks  of  the 
Vire  river,  Olivier  sang  his  poems,  to  which  his  fellow  citizens 
gave  the  title,  still  preserved,  of  Vaux  de  Vire,  after  the  name 
of  the  place  which  inspired  them.  During  the  entire  fifteenth 
and  sixteenth  centuries  the  songs  were  called  Vaux  de  Vire, 
then  Vaudeville,  by  corruption.  In  the  seventeenth  century 
they  went  indifferently  by  the  names  of  chansons  and  vaude- 
villes, as  we  see  in  Boileau,  who  in  his  Art  Poetique,  uses  both 
terms  to  designate  the  same  thing.  Finally,  it  was  called 
chanson  only,  since  vaudeville  meant  something  quite  differ- 
ent. The  good  Norman  fuller  loved  especially  three  things: 
wine,  cider,  and  peace— wine  more  than  cider,  and  cider  more 
than  peace.  It  was  Basselin  who  introduced  into  the  Bocage  l 
the  custom  of  singing  songs  after  repasts.  He  had  a  remark- 
able facility  in  improvising  songs.  In  his  Vau  de  Vire,  en- 
titled "  Probity  and  Joy,"  he  showed  good-nature  sharpened 
with  a  touch  of  malice.  Picturesqueness  of  expression  was  not 
wanting,  as  is  demonstrated  in  this  lively  and  charming 
quatrain : 

Toujours  dans  le  vin  vermeil 
Ou  autre  liqueur  bonne, 

On  voit  un  petit  soleil 
Qui  fre'tille  et  rayonne.2 

The  most  celebrated  of  his  songs  is  the  one  entitled  A  mon  nez 
(To  my  nose)  : 

II  vaut  bien  mieux  cacher  son  nez  dans  un  grand  verre: 

II  est  mieux  assure  qu'en  un  casque  de  guerre. 

Pour  cornette  ou  guidon  suivre  plut6t  on  doit 

Les  branches  d'hierre  ou  d'if  qui  montrent  oft  1'on  boit.' 

1  A  name  given  to  several  small  countries  of  ancient  France,  of  which 
the  two  best  known  were  the  Bocage  normand  and  the  Bocage  vende"en. 

2  Always  in  the  rosy  wine,  or  other  good  liquor,  one  sees  a  little  sun 
that  sparkles  and  beams. 

*It  is  better  to  hide  one's  nose  in  a  big  glass:  'tis  more  secure  than  a 

93 


THE    HISTORY    OF    FRENCH    LITERATURE 

Basselin  was  killed  in  the  Battle  of  Agincourt.  His  songs, 
oft-repeated  by  the  people  of  Normandy  and  orally  trans- 
mitted by  the  rhapsodists  of  Rouen,  Vire,  and  Falaise  (towns 
in  Normandy),  were  printed  for  the  first  time  about  1576, 
under  the  title  of  Livre  des  chants  nouveaux  et  vaux-de-Vire 
d 'Olivier  Basselin,  by  Jean  Le  Houx,  poet  and  lawyer  of  Vire. 
This,  no  doubt,  accounts  for  the  rejuvenation  of  the  style,  the 
clearness  of  the  verses,  and  the  omission  of  archaisms ;  and  this 
may  also  account  for  the  erroneous  idea,  maintained  by  some, 
that  Basselin 's  songs, ' '  which  show  his  talent  and  his  ignorance 
of  the  rules  of  art, ' '  were  composed  by  Jean  Le  Houx. 

Charles  d 'Orleans  (father  of  Louis  XII)  court  poet, 
spoke  the  language  of  the  courtiers — the  language  of  Blois, 
of  Chenonceaux,  of  London.  Neither  his  long  captivity  in 
England  (1411-1440),  nor  the  misfortune  which  befell  his 
family  and  his  country,1  brought  forth  even  one  utterance  of 
profound  passion  from  this  poet.  His  poems  breathe  a  spirit 
of  unquenchable  joy,  and  although  commonplace  in  concep- 
tion, reveal  beauty  of  expression,  fine  susceptibility,  and  facil- 
ity of  form.  Poetry  was  for  him  not  the  simple  expression 
of  the  soul — it  was  a  kind  of  "  learned  embroidery  " — made 
by  the  imagination.  Besides  the  poems  written  in  prison 
in  the  English  language,  he  left  several  hundred  ballads, 
songs,  roundelays,  etc.  In  all  his  poems,  of  which  there  are 
two  large  volumes,  there  is  not  one  verse  which  suggests  vul- 
garity, for  Charles  d 'Orleans  remained  a  princely  gentleman 
in  every  line  he  wrote. 

After  his  release  he  lived  in  the  Chateau  de  Blois,  sur- 
rounded by  a  court  of  poets  and  literary  lights,  and  continued 
to  write  poetry,  a  task  which  had  consoled  him  for  many  a 
weary  day  during  his  captivity.  This  court  was  a  poetic 

helmet.  For  pendant  or  banner,  one  ought  rather  to  follow  the  branches 
of  ivy  or  yew,  which  show  where  one  drinks. 

Formerly  the  very  small  inns  were  called  bouchons  (tavern  bushes) ;  to 
distinguish  them  from  other  houses,  branches  of  yew  or  fir  were  fastened 
above  the  doors.  To  this  day  in  all  the  small  villages  of  Normandy,  Brit- 
tany and  other  parts  of  France  one  may  see  the  bouchon  (bush)  over  the 
tavern  doors. 

1  His  father  was  assassinated  and  his  wife  died.  At  the  Battle  of  Agin- 
court, where  he  was  taken  prisoner,  the  flower  of  French  chivalry  perished. 

94 


POPULAR  POETRY 

arena  where  literary  tournaments  were  held,  and  where  the 
rivals  contested  for  prizes  in  ballad  or  song.  Gaston  Paris 
writes:  "  It  has  been  shrewdly  remarked  that  there  is,  to 
say  the  least,  a  strange  coincidence  in  the  relations  so  differ- 
ent of  Charles  of  Orleans  and  Villon  with  Louis  XI;  the 
same  lips  which  uttered  the  words  that  killed  the  last  songster 
of  the  Middle  Ages  freed  the  first  modern  poet. ' '  * 

Villon's  real  name  was  Francois  de  Montcorbier.  He  was 
born  in  the  vicinity  of  Paris  in  1431,  and  owes  his  surname  of 
Villon  to  Guillaume  de  Villon,  canon  of  Saint-Benoit,  who 
took  him  under  his  protection  and  gave  him  an  excellent 
education.  At  twenty-one,  he  took  the  degree  of  Master  of 
Arts  at  the  University  of  Paris,  but  soon  his  roguish  nature 
asserted  itself.  His  motto  "  II  n'est  tresor  que  de  vivre  a 
son  aise  "  (none  such  treasure  as  living  as  you  please),  re- 
veals his  vagabond  nature.  This  child  of  the  Latin  Quar- 
ter, who  went  through  all  the  vicissitudes  of  life,  who  starved, 
stole,  was  imprisoned,  tortured,  and  stood  face  to  face  with 
the  gallows,  brought  forth  in  his  works  a  veritable  treasure 
of  original  and  tender  lyricism.  He  is  the  most  original  and 
independent  poet  of  the  transition  period  from  the  Middle 
Ages  to  the  Renaissance,  and  the  first  prominent  and  artistic 
representative  of  that  quintessence  of  French  spirit  called 
gauloiserie.  Frangois  Villon  expresses  for  the  first  time  the 
lively,  bold,  mocking,  and  sometimes  sad,  popular  idiom,  in 
verse  coming  from  the  depths  of  the  soul  and  laden  with  the 
weight  of  misery.  -, 

The  place  of  this  man  "  de  povre  et  petite  extrace  "  is 
foremost  among  the  poets  of  France.  "  One  sees  the  wings 
of  the  poet,"  says  Nisard,  "  sprouting  under  the  rags  of  the 
beggar."  This  copious  ballad-maker,  fed  on  free  repasts,  is 
preoccupied  especially  with  the  idea  of  death.  He  is  the  last 
of  those  poets  who  have  sung  of  God,  of  their  lady,  of  their 

1  Allusion  to  the  harsh  words  spoken  by  Louis  XI  to  Charles  of  Orleans 
and  which  are  said  to  have  hastened  his  death.  What  the  actual  words 
were  is  not  known.  Claude  de  Seyssel  simply  says:  "Le  roi  le  contemna 
de  paroles  sans  avoir  e"gard  a  la  majeste*  de  sa  vieillesse  ni  a  sa  loyaute". 
Dont,  de  regret  qu'il  en  cut  .  .  .  il  finit  sa  vie  dedans  deux  jours."  The 
freeing  of  the  first  modern  poet  refers  to  the  release  of  Villon  from  prison, 
when  Louis  XI  passed  through  Meung. 

95 


THE    HISTORY   OF    FRENCH   LITERATURE 

naive  and  rude  passions,  always  with  a  profound  melan- 
choly, with  a  feeling  of  the  shortness  of  joy  and  the  long  dura- 
tion of  pain — and  "  death  at  the  end  of  it  all,"  as  Shake- 
speare has  it.  Jules  Lemaitre  writes :  ' '  Love  and  Death  were 
Villon's  muses.  I  dare  say  that  he  was  the  purest,  the  mos,t 
precise,  the  most  classic  in  form,  of  all  our  poets  before  the 
seventeenth  century,  and  in  the  main,  the  most  '  personal  ' — 
the  only  one — before  the  Romanticists." 

His  poems  express  constant  rejuvenation  and  the  accent  of 
truth  throughout  his  writings  makes  their  charm  and  their 
merit.  He  shows  himself  without  mask  and  without  pretence 
in  the  frank  expression  of  his  wrongdoings  and  his  regrets. 
His  poetry,  Gaston  Paris  notes,  is  essentially  lyric,  in  the  sense 
which  the  modern  critic  usually  applies  to  the  word — reflect- 
ing as  clearly  as  possible  the  soul  of  the  poet  in  his  verses; 
not  any  poet  has  surpassed  Villon  in  this  respect;  nay,  not 
any  poet  has  equaled  him,  will  never  perhaps  equal  him  in 
one  thing— in  his  absolute  sincerity. 

Villon  is  a  creature  of  a  transition  period,  but  with  re- 
spect to  the  basis  of  his  poetry  he  belongs  no  longer  to  the 
Middle  Ages.  According  to  Lanson  he  is  entirely  modern — 
the  first  poet  who  is  frankly,  completely  modern.1  These 
verses,  and  the  things  they  contain,  proceed  from  the  very 
depth  of  the  experience  and  the  feelings  of  the  man ;  they  ex- 
press his  inmost  sensibilities.  Here  we  have  a  poetry  which  is 
the  outcry  of  a  poor  soul  stricken  with  abject  misery— and 
that  alone.  In  this  voice,  mocking  and  plaintive  by  turns — 
which  cries  out  its  pain  or  its  vice — there  sounds  sometimes 
the  cry  of  eternal  humanity.  We  feel  it,  and  it  is  this  which 
makes  him  great. 

The  best  known  of  Villon's  verses  are  still  widely  read 
and  quoted.  His  works  were  very  popular.  After  the  first 
edition,  edited  shortly  after  his  death,  there  appeared  be- 
tween the  years  1498  (edited  by  Marot)  and  1542,  twenty- 
seven  new  ones.2  Villon's  poems  show  his  melancholic  gayety 
and  vivacity  of  mind,  his  scintillating  wit  and  his  impetuos- 

1  Boileau  in  his  Art  po&ique  says: 

Villon  sut  le  premier,  dans  ces  siecles  grossiers, 
DSbrouiller  1'art  confus  de  nos  vieux  romanciers. 

*  See  Moscher's  English  edition. 
96 


POPULAR  POETRY 

ity  of  speech  as  well  as  clearness  and  grace.  The  Petit 
Testament,  written  in  1456  when  Villon  prepared  to  depart 
for  Angers,  to  implore  the  generosity  of  an  uncle  supposed  to 
be  rich,  is  in  the  form  of  legacies.  He  first  announces  his 
departure,  and,  believing  the  voyage  to  be  long  and  perilous, 
pretends  to  dispose  of  his  worldly  possessions.  He  mentions 
his  friends  from  all  ranks  in  life — the  grave  functionary  of 
parliament  as  well  as  the  professional  thief.  He  wills  to  his 
solicitor  a  ballad,  by  way  of  payment;  to  his  tavern  keeper, 
his  debts;  to  his  barber,  his  hair;  to  a  drunkard,  his  empty 
barrel ;  to  a  very  fat  friend,  two  recipes  to  reduce  his  embon- 
point; and  to  grandmother  earth,  his  body,  etc. 

His  Grand  Testament,  written  in  1461,  shows  his  remark- 
able ability  and  is  the  first  example  in  European  literature 
of  a  poetry  profoundly  and  entirely  personal.  Among  the 
most  touching  verses  in  the  Grand  Testament  is  a  prayer  to 
the  Virgin  for  his  mother: 

Dame  du  ciel,  regente  terrienne 

Emperiere  des  infernaux  palus, 
Recevez  moi,  votre  humble  chre'tienne, 

Que  comprise  sole  entre  vos  £lus, 

Ce  nonobstant  qu'oncques  rien  ne  valus. 
Les  biens  de  vous,  ma  dame  et  ma  maltresse, 
Sont  trop  plus  grans  que  je  ne  suis  pecheresse; 

Sans  lesquels  biens  ame  ne  peut  merir, 
N'entrer  es  cieulx,  je  n'en  suis  menteresse: 

En  cette  foy,  je  vueil  vivre  et  mourir. 

His  MOTHER'S  SERVICE  TO  OUR  LADY 

Lady  of  Heaven  and  earth,  and  therewithal 

Crowned  Empress  of  the  nether  clefts  of  Hell, — 
I,  thy  poor  Christian,  on  thy  name  do  call, 

Commending  me  to  thee,  with  thee  to  dwell, 

Albeit  in  naught  I  be  commendable. 
But  all  mine  undeserving  may  not  mar 
Such  mercies  as  thy  sovereign  mercies  are ; 

Without  the  which  (as  true  words  testify) 
No  soul  can  reach  thy  Heaven  so  fair  and  far. 

Even  in  this  faith  I  choose  to  live  and  die. 

8  97 


THE    HISTORY   OF    FRENCH   LITERATURE 

Unto  thy  Son  say  thou  that  I  am  His, 

And  to  me  graceless  make  Him  gracious. 
Sad  Mary  of  Egypt  lacked  not  of  that  bliss, 

Nor  yet  the  sorrowful  clerk  Theophilus, 

Whose  bitter  sins  were  set  aside  even  thus 
Though  to  the  Fiend  his  bounden  service  was. 
Oh,  help  me,  lest  in  vain  for  me  should  pass 

(Sweet  Virgin  that  shalt  have  no  loss  thereby!) 
The  blessed  Host  and  scaring  of  the  Mass. 

Even  in  this  faith  I  choose  to  live  and  die. 

A  pitiful  poor  woman,  shrunk  and  old, 

I  am,  and  nothing  learn 'd  in  letter-lore. 
Within  my  parish  cloister  I  behold 

A  painted  Heaven  where  harps  and  lutes  adore, 

And  eke  an  Hell  whose  damned  folk  seethe  full  sore : 
One  bringeth  fear,  the  other  joy  to  me. 
That  joy,  great  Goddess,  make  thou  mine  to  be, — 

Thou  of  whom  all  must  ask  it  even  as  I; 
And  that  which  faith  desires,  that  let  it  see. 

For  in  this  faith  I  choose  to  live  and  die. 

O  excellent  Virgin  Princess!  thou  didst  bear 
King  Jesus,  the  most  excellent  comforter, 

Who  even  of  this  our  weakness  craved  a  share 
And  for  our  sake  stooped  to  us  from  on  high, 

Offering  to  death  His  young  life,  sweet  and  fair. 

Such  as  He  is,  Our  Lord,  I  Him  declare. 
And  in  this  faith  I  choose  to  live  and  die. 

Into  this  Testament  Villon  incorporated  a  large  number  of  his 
older  ballads,  a  genre  he  brought  to  perfection  in  the  Ballade 
des  Dames  du  temps  jadis  (Ballad  of  Old-Time  Ladies),  and 
the  Ballade  des  Pendus  (Ballad  of  the  Hanging),  the  "  Epi- 
taph in  Form  of  a  Ballad,"  which  the  poet  composed  in  the 
prison  of  Meung-sur-Loire,  when  he  and  his  companions  were 
under  condemnation  of  death  by  hanging : 

Frdres  humains,  qui  apr6s  nous  vivez 
N'ayez  les  cueurs  contre  nous  endurciz, 

Car  si  pitie"  de  nous  pouvres  avez, 

Dieu  en  aura  plus  tost  de  vous  merciz; 
98 


POPULAR  POETRY 

Vous  nous  voyez  cy  attachez,  cinq,  six, 
Quant  de  la  chair,  que  trop  avons  nourrie, 
Elle  est  pi£c,a  devoree  et  pourrie, 

Et  nous,  les  os,  devenons  cendre  et  pouldre, 
De  notre  mal  personne  ne  s'en  rie, 

Mais  priez  Dieu  que  tous  nous  veuille  absouldre. 

Se  vous  clamons  freres,  pas  ne  devez 

Avoir  desdaing,  quoy  que  fusmes  occis 
Par  justice;  toustefois  vous  mesmes  scavez 

Que  tous  hommes  n'ont  pas  bon  sens  assis; 

Intercedez  doncques,  de  cueur  rassis, 
Envers  le  Filz  de  la  Vierge  Marie, 
Que  sa  grace  ne  soit  pour  nous  tarie, 

Nous  preservant  de  1'infernale  fouldre; 
Nous  sommes  mors,  ame  ne  nous  harie, 

Mais  priez  Dieu  que  tous  nous  veuille  absouldre. 

La  pluye  nous  a  buez  et  lavez, 

Et  le  soleil  dessechez  et  noirciz, 
Pies,  corbeaulx,  nous  ont  les  yeux  cavez, 

Et  arrache"  la  barbe  et  les  sourcilz, 
Jamais  nul  temps  nous  ne  nous  sommes  rassis 
Puis  c&  puis  la,  comme  le  vent  varie, 
(A  son  plaisir)  sans  cesser  nous  charie, 

Plus  becquetez  d'oyseaulx  que  dez  a  couldre; 
Hommes  ici  n'usez  de  mocquerie 

Mais  priez  Dieu  que  tous  nous  veuille  absouldre. 

Prince  Jesus,  qui  sur  tous  seigneurie, 
Garde  qu'Enfer  n'ayt  de  nous  la  maistrie, 

A  luy  n'ayons  que  faire  ne  que  souldre; 
Ne  soyez  done  de  nostre  confrairie, 

Mais  priez  Dieu  que  tous  nous  veuille  absouldre.1 

1  Men,  brother  men,  that  after  us  yet  live, 

Let  not  your  hearts  too  hard  against  us  be; 
For  if  some  pity  of  us  poor  men  ye  give, 

The  sooner  God  shall  take  of  you  pity. 

Here  are  we  five  or  six  strung  up,  you  see, 
And  here  the  flesh  that  all  too  well  we  fed 
Bit  by  bit  eaten  and  rotten,  rent  and  shred, 

And  we  the  bones  grow  dust  and  ash  withal; 
Let  no  man  laugh  at  us  discomforted, 

But  pray  to  God  that  He  forgive  us  all. 
99 


THE    HISTORY   OF    FRENCH    LITERATURE 

Villon's  charming  Ballad  of  Old-Time  Ladies,  has  invited 
more  than  one  eminent  poet  to  translate  it  into  English : 

Dites-moi,  oft  n'en  quel  pays 

Est  Flora,  la  belle  Romaine; 

Archipiada  ni  Thais,1 

Qui  fut  sa  cousine  germaine; 

Echo,  parlant  quand  bruit  on  mene 

Dessus  riviere  ou  sur  etan, 

Qui  beaute  eut  trop  plus  qu'  humaine, 

Mais  ou  sont  les  neiges  d'antan? 


If  we  call  on  you,  brothers,  to  forgive, 

Ye  should  not  hold  our  prayer  in  scorn,  though  we 
Were  slain  by  law;  yet  know  that  all  alive 

Have  not  wit  alway  to  walk  righteously; 

Make  therefore  intercession  heartily 
With  Him  that  of  a  virgin's  womb  was  bred, 
That  His  grace  be  not  as  dry  a  well-head 

For  us,  nor  let  hell's  thunder  on  us  fall; 
We  are  dead;  let  no  man  harry  or  vex  us  dead, 

But  pray  to  God  that  He  forgive  us  all. 

The  rain  has  washed  and  laundered  us  all  five, 
And  the  sun  dried  and  blackened;  yea,  perdie, 

Ravens  and  pies  with  beaks  that  rend  and  rive 
Have  dug  our  eyes  out,  and  plucked  off  for  fee 
Our  beards  and  eyebrows;  never  we  are  free, 

Not  once,  to  rest;  but  here  and  there  still  sped, 

Driven  at  its  wild  will  by  the  wind's  change  led, 
More  pecked  of  birda  than  fruits  on  garden-wall; 

Men,  for  God's  love,  let  no  gibe  here  be  said, 
But  pray  to  God  that  He  forgive  us  all. 

Prince  Jesus,  that  of  all  art  lord  and  head, 
Keep  us,  that  hell  be  not  our  bitter  bed; 

We  have  naught  to  do  in  such  a  master's  hall; 
Be  not  ye  therefore,  of  our  fellow  head, 

But  pray  to  God  that  He  forgive  us  all. 

1  Archipiada  was  the  wife  of  Crates,  a  Greek  cynic  philosopher.  Thais 
was  a  famous  courtesan  of  Athens,  and  mistress  of  Alexander  the  Great  in 
the  fourth  century  B.C. 

100 


POPULAR  POETRY 

Ou  est  la  tres  sage  Helois, 
Pour  qui  fut  chatre  et  puis  moine 
Pierre  Abailart '  a  Saint  Denys? 
Pour  son  amour  eut  cette  essoyne. 
Semblablement  ou  est  la  royne  * 
Qui  commanda  que  Buridan 
Fust  jete  en  un  sac  en  Seine? 
Mais  ou  sont  les  neiges  d'antan? 

La  Royne  Blanche  *  comme  un  Us, 

Qui  chantait  a  voix  de  sirene, 

Berte  aux  grands  pieds  *  Bietris,  Allis; 

Harembourges  *  qui  taint  le  Maine, 
Et  Jehanne,  la  bonne  lorraine, 
Qu'  Anglais  brulerent  a  Rouen: 
Ou  sont-ilz,  Vierge  souveraine? 
Mais  ou  sont  les  neiges  d'antan? 


1  Abe'lard  taught  philosophy  on  Mount  Ste.  Genevieve,  where  his  dis- 
ciples came  to  hear  him.  The  philosophers  of  the  Schools  were  his  enemies, 
holding  opinions  opposed  to  his.  Abelard  was  much  admired  by  the  Abb6 
Fulbert,  who  liked  to  discuss  philosophy  with  him.  But  the  Abbe"  had  a 
niece,  and,  in  spite  of  his  philosophy,  Abelard  fell  hi  love  with  her.  As  a 
result  of  this  passion  for  He'loise,  the  Abb6,  filled  with  fury,  had  a  de- 
grading mutilation  inflicted  upon  the  philosopher.  Then  Abe'lard — ill, 
sad,  and  tired  of  life — became  a  monk.  The  unhappy  He'loise,  suffering 
as  much  as  her  unfortunate  lover,  also  entered  a  monastery.  In  1817  the 
ashes  of  both  lovers  were  placed  in  a  mausoleum  built  for  them  in  the 
Pere-Lachaise  cemetery  in  Paris.  For  an  original  and  unconventional 
view  of  Abe'lard's  conduct,  the  reader  is  referred  to  an  essay  in  the  col- 
lected works  of  Mark  Twain.  The  lover  of  He'loise  is  therein  pitilessly 
impaled  on  the  shaft  of  a  caustic  humor.  It  is  Mark  Twain  in  his  serious 
vein,  and  at  his  best. 

J  Jeanne,  wife  of  Philip  the  Fair.  A  legend  connects  the  philosopher 
Jean  Buridan  with  the  debauches  of  Jeanne  de  Navarre  in  the  Tower  of 
Nesle. 

3  Queen  Blanche,  of  Castile,  mother  of  Louis  IX,  the  saint. 

•"Bertha  of  the  Big  Feet,"  according  to  tradition  the  mother  of 
Charlemagne. 

1  Harembourges  was  the  daughter  of  the  Comte  du  Maine. 

101 


THE    HISTORY   OF    FRENCH   LITERATURE 

Prince,  n'enquerez  de  semaine 
Ou  elles  sont,  ni  de  cet  an, 
Que  ce  refrain  ne  vous  remaine: 
Mais  ou  sont  les  neiges  d'antan?  ' 

Of  these  ballads  Ferdinand  Brunetiere  writes:  Is  there 
anything  more  grewsome  than  the  ' '  Ballad  of  the  Hanging  ' '  ? 
of  more  vivid  coloring  than  La  Grosse  Margott  a  more  naive 
conception  than  the  ballad  which  Villon  made  at  the  request 
of  his  mother?  and  since  one  cannot  mention  Villon  without 
recalling  it — is  there  anything  more  human  in  melancholy 


Tell  me  now  in  what  hidden  way  is 

Lady  Flora  the  lovely  Roman? 
Where's  Hipparchia,  and  where  is  Thais, 

Neither  of  them  the  fairer  woman? 
Where  is  Echo,  beheld  of  no  man, 

Only  heard  on  river  and  mere, — 
She  whose  beauty  was  more  than  human?  .  .  . 

But  where  are  the  snows  of  yester-year? 

Where's  He"loise,  the  learned  nun, 

For  whose  sake  Abeillard,  I  ween, 
Lost  manhood  and  put  priesthood  on? 

(From  love  he  won  such  dule  and  teen!) 
And  where,  I  pray  you,  is  the  Queen 

Who  willed  that  Buridan  should  steer 
Sewed  in  a  sack's  mouth  down  the  Seine?  .  .  . 

But  where  are  the  snows  of  yester-year? 

White  Queen  Blanche,  like  a  queen  of  lilies, 

With  a  voice  like  any  mermaiden, — 
Bertha  Broadfoot,  Beatrice,  Alice, 

And  Ermengarde,  the  lady  of  Maine, — 
And  that  good  Joan  whom  Englishmen 

At  Rouen  doomed  and  burned  her  there, — 
Mother  of  God,  where  are  they  then? 

But  where  are  the  snows  of  yester-year? 

Nay,  never  ask  this  week,  fair  lord, 

Where  they  are  gone,  nor  yet  this  year, 
Except  with  this  for  an  overword, — 
But  where  are  the  snows  of  yester-year? 

— Translation  by  Dante  Gabriel  Rossetti. 
102 


POPULAR  POETRY 

than  the  ' '  Ballad  of  Old-Time  Ladies ' '  ?  But,  adds  M.  Brune- 
tiere,  it  is  not  Villon  who  has  beeil  imitated.  Those  who  cre- 
ated a  school  are  the  "  great  rhetoricians  ":  Jean  Meschinot, 
Jean  Molinet,  Guillaume  Cretin — the  Raminagrobis  1  of  Rabe- 
lais— Jean  Marot,  Lemaire  de  Beiges.  Already  prosaic  in 
the  hands  of  Alain  Chartier,  poetry  in  their  hands  became 
pretentiously  didactic.  Did  they  themselves  realize  it,  and 
not  being  able  to  create  beautiful  poetry,  is  it  for  that  reason 
they  made  it  artificial  by  overloading  it  with  infinite  compli- 
cations and  deplorable  ornaments?  " 

Whatever  Villon  may  have  been — perhaps  more  sinned 
against  than  sinning — his  soul  must  have  retained  purity 
to  find  such  expression.  His  beautiful  ballads  when  once 
heard,  leave  their  rhythm  in  our  memories.  Swinburne  has 
crowned  him  "  Prince  of  All  Ballad  Makers  ": 


Bird  of  the  bitter,  bright,  gray  golden  morn 
Scarce  risen  upon  the  dusk  of  dolorous  years, 

First  of  us  all  and  sweetest  singer  born, 

Whose  far  shrill  note  the  world  of  new  men  hears 
Cleave  the  cold  shuddering  shade  as  twilight  clears ; 

When  song  newborn  put  off  the  old  world's  attire 

And  felt  its  tune  on  her  changed  lips  expire, 
Writ  foremost  on  the  roll  of  them  that  came 

Fresh  girt  for  service  of  the  latter  lyre, 

Villon,  our  sad,  bad,  glad,  mad  brother's  name! 

Alas!  the  joy,  the  sorrow,  and  the  scorn, 
That  clothed  thy  life  with  hopes  and  sins  and  fears, 

And  gave  thee  stones  for  bread  and  tares  for  corn 
And  plume-plucked  gaol-birds  for  thy  starveling  peers 
Till  death  clipt  close  their  flight  with  shameful  shears; 

Till  shifts  came  short  and  loves  were  hard  to  hire, 

When  lilt  of  song  nor  twitch  of  twangling  wire 
Could  buy  thee  bread  or  kisses ;  when  light  frame 

Spurned  like  a  ball  and  haled  through  brake  and  briar, 
Villon,  our  sad,  bad,  glad,  mad  brother's  name ! 

1  A  word  used  to  ridicule  a  conceited  man.     Name  given  by  La  Fontaine 
to  an  old  cat. 

103 


THE    HISTORY   OF    FRENCH   LITERATURE 

Poor  splendid  wings  so  frayed  and  soiled  and  torn ! 

Poor  kind  wild  eyes  so  dashed  with  light  quick  tears! 
Poor  perfect  voice,  most  blithe  when  most  forlorn, 

That  rings  athwart  the  sea  whence  no  man  steers 

Like  joy-bells  crossed  with  death-bells  in  our  ears! 
What  far  delight  has  cooled  the  fierce  desire 
That  like  some  ravenous  bird  was  strong  to  tire 

On  that  frail  flesh  and  soul  consumed  with  flame, 
But  left  more  sweet  than  roses  to  respire, 

Villon,  our  sad,  bad,  glad,  mad  brother's  name? 

ENVOI 

Prince  of  sweet  songs  made  out  of  tears  and  fire; 
A  harlot  was  thy  nurse,  a  god  thy  sire ; 

Shame  soiled  thy  song,  and  song  assoiled  thy  shame. 
But  from  thy  feet  now  death  has  washed  the  mire, 
Love  reads  out  first  at  head  of  all  our  quire, 

Villon,  our  sad,  bad,  glad,  mad  brother's  name. 

— ALGERNON  CHARLES  SWINBURNB. 


CHAPTER  VIII 

THE   RENAISSANCE 

FOB  more  than  two  centuries  the  literature  of  France 
suffered  from  inertia:  the  age  of  chivalrous  poetry  was  over, 
people  no  longer  cared  for  the  insipid  allegories,  the  myster- 
ies had  been  forbidden,  the  conte  in  verse  had  completely  dis- 
appeared, and  literature  took  the  form  of  prose  in  the  nouvelle 
imitated  from  the  Italian — a  special  genre  of  the  fifteenth 
century.  It  was  introduced  into  France  with  the  Cent  nou- 
velles  nouvelles  by  Antoine  de  La  Salle  in  imitation  of  Boccac- 
cio's Decameron. 

The  Monologue  is  also  a  production  of  this  century,  and 
the  Franc  Archer  de  Bagnolet,  written  by  a  canon  of  Reims, 
is  its  principal  exponent.  An  entire  literature  for  and  against 
women,  occupied  many  writers,  an  example  of  which  is  the 
tiresome  and  prolix  Champion  des  Dames  (The  Champion  of 
Women),  by  Martin  Le  Franc,  written  about  1442,  in  imita- 
tion of  the  Roman  de  la  Rose,  and  which  was  reprinted  in 
1530  by  Galliot  du  Pre.  In  1542  Gratien  du  Pont  wrote  a 
long  poem  harshly  censuring  women,  called  Controverses  des 
Sexes  masculin  et  feminin  (Controversies  of  the  Masculine 
and  Feminine  Sexes). 

The  Renaissance  movement  gave  a  new  impetus  to  this 
languishing  state  and  wrought  great  changes  in  the  literature 
of  France.  Italy  was  the  cradle  of  the  Renaissance — the  great 
literary,  artistic,  and  philosophical  movement  which  was 
called  into  life  about  the  middle  of  the  fourteenth  century, 
and  which  spread  throughout  Europe  during  the  fifteenth 
and  sixteenth  centuries.  Three  great  historical  facts  prepared 
the  way :  the  capture  of  Constantinople  by  the  Turks  in  1453 ; 
the  wars  under  the  French  kings  in  Italy ;  and  the  great  dis- 
coveries of  the  fifteenth  century. 

105 


After  the  fall  of  the  Western  Roman  Empire,  Constan- 
tinople became  the  center  of  all  that  was  left  of  Roman  culture 
and  learning  in  the  West  until  it  was  captured  by  the  Turks. 
Many  Greek  and  Latin  scholars  living  in  Constantinople, 
among  them  the  famous  Lascaris,  fled  to  Italy  and  carried 
with  them  rich  spoils  of  the  Greek  literature,  intellectual 
treasures  of  the  languages,  politics,  philosophy,  and  religious 
beliefs  of  antiquity.  These  savants  opened  schools  in  Rome, 
Venice,  and  Milan,  and  interpreted  the  great  writers  of 
Greece  and  Rome:  Plato,  Sophocles,  Aristotle,  Euripides, 
Virgil,  Horace,  Terence,  etc.,  to  numbers  of  students  from  all 
parts  of  Italy.  Italy's  great  writers:  Dante,  Petrarch,  Boc- 
caccio and  others,  made  known  these  works  of  antiquity,  and 
brought  to  light  many  old  manuscripts  which  they  had  found 
in  the  archives  of  convents.  The  first  one  to  break  with  the 
mediaBval  traditions  was  Petrarch.  He  founded  a  new  school 
to  trace  the  origins  of  the  great  Latin  writers  to  their  very 
sources.  The  basis  of  almost  all  of  the  new  school  of  poetry 
in  France  and  England  as  well  as  Italy  is  due  to  him.  The 
Este  of  Ferrara,  the  Medici  of  Florence — Leon  X,  a  pope  of 
that  brilliant  family,  encouraged  exploration  in  the  domain 
of  antiquity.  Their  liberality  was  unbounded  in  the  pro- 
tection of  savants,  artists,  and  humanists.1  Paul  III,2  Sixtus 
V,3  men  of  profound  politics  and  statesmanship,  were  great 
patrons  of  literature,  art,  and  reform.  Poggio,  Angelo, 
Poliziana,  Pico  de  la  Mirandola,  Machiavelli,  Bembo,  and  the 
learned  printers  of  the  family  of  Aide — popularized  by  their 

1  Humanists  were  scholars  who  at  the  Revival  of  Learning  in  the  four- 
teenth,  fifteenth,    and   sixteenth   centuries  devoted   themselves  to   the 
study  of  the  language,  literature,  and  antiquities  of  Rome,  and  afterwards 
of  Greece. — Murray. 

2  Paul  III  (Alessandro  Farnese)  was  pope,  1534-49.     He  excommuni- 
cated Henry  VIII  of  England  in  1538;  in  1545  he  convoked  the  Council  of 
Trent. 

3  Felice  Peretti,  Pope  of  Rome,  1585-90.     He  determined  the  number  of 
cardinals  to  be  seventy.     "Elected  as  successor  of  Gregory  XIII  because 
the  cardinals  thought  him  near  death  as  he  walked,  bent  up,  leaning  on  a 
staff.     It  is  said  that  as  soon  as  the  vote  was  assured,  he  arose  with  such 
a  brisk  movement  that  he  made  his  neighbors  draw  back,  threw  away  his 
staff,  raised  his  head,  and  intoned  the  Te  Deum  in  a  voice  that  made  the 
window  panes  of  the  hall  rattle." — Larousse,  Encycl. 

106 


THE    EENAISSANCE 

translations  and  publications  the  master-works  of  Greek  and 
Latin  literature. 

The  expeditions  into  Italy  repeated  under  three  kings 
(Charles  VIII,  Louis  XII,  and  Francis  I),  put  the  French 
in  touch  with  the  antique  treasures.  Italy  preceded  France 
by  half  a  century  on  the  road  of  Renaissance,  but  she  did  not 
feel  this  renewed  impulse  so  strongly  as  France  did,  having 
always  been  brilliant  and  civilized  with  her  majestic  monu- 
ments, her  even  more  majestic  ruins,  and  with  a  home  cul- 
ture which  had  never  quite  broken  with  classical  tradition. 
Nor  did  the  Renaissance  produce  so  tremendous  and  rad- 
ical a  change  as  in  France,  where  the  new  sources  of  inspi- 
ration for  poetry,  thought,  and  science  caused  an  agitation 
and  upheaval  heretofore  unequaled  in  the  annals  of  her 
history. 

For  the  literature  of  France  the  renewed  study  of  Greek 
and  Roman  culture  meant  a  rupture  with  the  Celtic  past. 
The  old  French  literature  was  strictly  a  national  literature, 
for  even  the  chansons  de  geste  which  treated  of  classical 
antiquity  were  depicted  in  true  French  spirit.  With  the 
Renaissance,  the  doctrine  of  humanism  and  hellenism  espoused 
by  writers  and  thinkers  found  expression  in  their  works. 

The  third  great  factor  to  further  this  movement,  which 
excited  and  emancipated  the  human  mind,  was  the  succession 
of  remarkable  discoveries.  The  discovery  of  America,  the 
Copernican  Revolution,  the  art  of  engraving  (1422),  and 
above  all  the  invention  of  printing  by  Gutenberg,1  all  these 
gave  an  impetus  to  scientific  research.  The  art  of  printing 
multiplied  and  diffused  the  master-works  of  ancient  genius 
heretofore  inaccessible  because  of  their  rarity  and  cost.  The 
humanists  found  most  puissant  auxiliaries  in  printing,  which 
spread  their  works  throughout  Europe,  and  in  the  protection 

1  It  is  said  that  Gutenberg  had  seen  at  Venice,  at  the  house  of  Pamphilo 
Castaldi  de  Feltre,  certain  little  wooden  sticks  used  by  the  Chinese  in 
printing,  which  Castaldi  had  received  from  Marco  Polo,  the  famous  Vene- 
tian traveler  and  author.  It  was  Marco  Polo  who  gave  Columbus  the  idea 
of  seeking  the  Indies  in  the  West.  Marco  Polo  is  thus  possibly  the  prime 
cause  of  the  two  greatest  discoveries  of  the  modern  world.  Mendel,  an 
Alsatian  monk,  had  already  devised  characters  to  be  used  in  printing,  but 
he  concealed  his  discovery. 

107 


THE    HISTORY   OF   FRENCH   LITERATURE 

of  the  sovereigns.1  It  was  Charles  VIII  who  introduced  the 
Renaissance  into  France.  The  masterpieces  revealed  to  him 
in  his  expedition  into  Italy  had  incited  his  admiration.  Under 
Louis  XII  the  new  movement  found  a  firm  footing,  but  to 
Francis  I  is  accorded  the  honor  of  having  brought  the  Renais- 
sance to  a  flood.  It  triumphed  under  him:  scholastic  litera- 
ture was  replaced  by  the  critical  studies  of  ancient  texts,  even 
those  of  the  Bible,  and  a  Latinized  language  clear  and  flexible 
took  the  place  of  the  stiff  and  deficient  language  of  old. 
Francis  I  was  called  the  Protector,  the  Father  of  Letters  and 
of  Arts.  He  addressed  himself  to  the  scholars  of  all  Europe ; 
he  made  them  generous  offers  to  attract  them  to  his  court; 
and  the  litterateurs,  the  scholars,  the  artists  he  encouraged 
with  his  gifts  were  numberless. 

Guillaume  Bude,  the  "  prodigy  of  France,"  the  disciple 
of  Janus  Lascaris,  was  called  by  Francis  I  to  his  court.  Bude 
was  one  of  the  most  profound  Hellenists  of  the  century,  and 
was  therefore  vigorously  and  constantly  attacked  by  the  Sor- 
bonnists.  He  wrote  the  Commentaires  sur  la  langue  grecque, 
a  treatise  De  Asse  on  the  coinage  of  the  Greeks  and  Romans, 
and  on  classical  learning,  Annotations  sur  les  Pandectes,  and 
the  Lettres  grecques.  In  his  work  he  showed  that  science 
is  not  an  obstacle,  but  rather  a  road  to  the  faith ;  that  ancient 
philosophy  is  a  sort  of  preparation  to  the  study  of  the  Gospel. 
He  occupied  many  important  positions  under  Francis  I  and 
profited  by  his  influence  with  that  king  in  founding  the  Col- 
lege de  France.2  In  spite  of  the  remonstrances  of  the  Sor- 
bonne  and  of  Parliament,  the  chairs  of  Hebrew,  Greek  and 
Latin  were  established,  to  which  were  added  those  of  Mathe- 
matics, Medicine,  and  Philosophy. 

1  Henry  VII  of  England  encouraged  Italian  poets  to  live  at  his  court. 
Mathias  Corwin,  King  of  Hungary,  was  a  great  patron  of  art  and  literature 
and  the  Hungarian  Renaissance  dates  from  his  reign. 

2  First  called  the  College  of  the  King  and  then  the  College  of  the  Three 
Languages,  after  the  chairs  of  Hebrew,  Greek,  and  Latin  had  been  estab- 
lished.    Under  Louis  XIII  it  was  known  as  the  Royal  College  and  during 
the  Revolution  as  the  National  College.     Napoleon  created  a  chair  of 
Turkish  and  changed  the  name  to  Imperial  College.   Under  the  Restoration 
it  became  the  College  of  France  and  chairs  of  Sanskrit  and  Chinese  were 
established.     Now  it  is  the  College  of  France,  with  forty-two  professors, 
and  its  free  instruction  includes  the  entire  field  of  learning. 

108 


Many  famous  scholars  added  to  the  reputation  of  this 
college;  among  them  were:  Vatable  or  Wastebled,  professor 
of  Hebrew,  editor  of  the  famous  Bible  de  Vatable,  condemned 
by  the  Sorbonne;  Danes,  professor  of  Greek,  distinguished 
orator,  philosopher,  and  mathematician;  Jean  Dorat,  master 
of  Ronsard  and  poet  of  the  Pleiade;  Denis  Lambin,  the  savant 
philologer,  whose  slow  manner  of  working  gave  the  word 
lambiner  to  the  French  language.  Next  to  Bude  must  be 
placed  Robert  and  Henry  Estienne,  father  and  son.  Robert 
was  the  first  to  print  Bibles  in  France,  and  his  orthodoxy 
soon  became  suspected.  Henry  Estienne,1  workingman  and 
man  of  letters,  sought  his  recreation  in  the  composition  of 
his  "  Treasury  of  the  Greek  Language,"  and  in  launching 
ardent  pamphlets,  written  in  the  vernacular,  which  attracted 
attention  throughout  all  Europe.  Under  the  title  of  "  Apol- 
ogy for  Herodotus,"  he  published  a  lively  and  strange 
satire  on  the  customs,  prejudices,  and  excesses  of  his  time. 
Besides  encouraging  the  scholars,  the  kings  of  France  had  in- 
vited Italian  artists  to  their  courts;  Leonardo  da  Vinci, 
Andrea  del  Sarte,  were  great  favorites.  The  Castles  of 
Amboise,  Chenonceau,  Blois  and  others  were  built  by  Italian 
architects.  Through  the  influence  of  Catherine  de  Medici, 
the  Italian  language  had  been  introduced  into  the  French 
court,  and  Henri  Estienne 2  in  his  Deux  dialogues  du  nouveau 
language  fran$ais  italianise,  protested  against  this  invasion, 
and  criticised  it  as  the  doctrine  of  humanism  carried  too  far. 
In  this  criticism  nothing  escaped  his  pitiless  fervor ;  the  vices, 
crimes,  perversities,  absurdities,  hypocrisies  and  superstitions, 
all  were  exposed  and  depicted  without  reserve.  He  was 
banished  from  France.  For  Francis  I,  although  he  protected 
the  new  movement,  created  the  censorship  and  decreed  the 

1  Of  Henry  Estienne,  Ronsard  sang  the  famous  toast: 
"  Verse,  et  verse,  et  reverse  encore          Fill  and  fill  and  fill  again  this 
Dedans  cette  grande  coupe  d'or.       great  cup  of  gold;  I  would  drink 
Je  veux  boire  d,  Henri  Estienne,    to    Henry    Estienne,    who    from 
Qui  des  enfers  nous  a  rendu  Hades   brought   back   to   us   the 

Du  vieil  AnacrSon  perdu  sweet,  lost  lyre  of  old  Anacreon. 

La  douce  lyre  te"ienne." 

2 To  him  is  attributed  the  famous  proverb:  "A  brebis  tondue  Dieu 
meaure  le  vent"  (God  tempers  the  wind  to  the  shorn  lamb). 

109 


THE    HISTORY   OP    FRENCH   LITERATURE 

death  penalty  against  every  author  of  works  published  with- 
out his  authority.  Under  his  reign  Louis  de  Berquin  l  and 
Estienne  Dolet 2  were  burned  at  the  stake. 

Another  victim  of  fanaticism  and  ignorance  was  Ramus 
(Pierre  La  Ramee).  His  crime  consisted  in  writing  against 
peripateticism.  Since  the  twelfth  century  the  doctrines  of 
Aristotle  had  been  introduced  into  France  as  supreme  author- 
ity. The  ignorant  believed  that  Aristotle  was  a  king  of  the 
Middle  Ages,  and  even  the  learned  stood  in  religious  awe  of 
him.  In  his  work  Dialecticas  partitiones  et  Aristotalicae 
animadversiones,  Ramus  attacked  the  obscurity  of  Aristotle's 
philosophy  and  asserted  that  his  logic  was  false.  In  proclaim- 
ing reason  and  not  authority  the  criterion  of  truth,  Ramus 
was  the  precursor  of  modern  philosophy. 

After  long  and  laborious  researches  these  men,  martyrs 
to  their  cause,  conquered  barbarism  and  ignorance,  and  cleared 
the  path  for  the  succeeding  writers.  In  France  the  Renais- 
sance predominated  until  the  death  of  Francis  I  (1547),  and 
paved  the  way  for  the  Reformation,3  the  religious  revolution  in 
the  second  half  of  the  century.  In  this  period,  under  the  sons 
of  Henry  II  (Francis  II,  Charles  IX,  and  Henry  III),  this 
great  religious  question  plunged  France  into  eight  civil  wars, 
beginning  with  the  massacre  of  Vassy  in  1562  and  ending  with 
the  Edict  of  Nantes  in  1598  under  Henry  IV,  by  which  free- 
dom of  religious  worship  was  given  to  the  Protestants. 

The  founder  of  the  Reformation  in  France  was  Calvin. 
Jean  Chauvin,  called  Calvin,  born  in  1509,  at  Noyon  in 
Picardy,  was  destined  for  the  church.  He  was  made  a 

1  De  Beze  wrote:  "Louis  de  Berquin  might  have  been  the  Luther  of 
France  had  Francis  been  a  Frederick  of  Saxony." 

2  Of  Dolet  it  was  said:  "He  had  French  talent,  Latin  genius,  universal 
erudition,  and  courage  that  never  failed."     Francis  I  ordered  the  massacres 
of  Me>indol  and  Cabrieres,  two  cities  occupied  by  the  Waldensians,  mem- 
bers of  a  reforming  body  of  Christians — followers  of  Peter  Waldo  of  Lyons 
— organized  about  1170.    Their  chief  seats  were  in  the  Alpine  valleys  of 
Piedmont,  Dauphin^,  and  Provence;  hence  the  French  name,  Vaudois  des 
Alpes,  or  Vaudois.     By  order  of  Francis  I  over  three  thousand  were  slain. 

3  Michelet  says  of  the  Reformation  and  its  spirit:  "Luther  sang:  a  great 
audacity  indeed  at  that  epoch  when  humanity  scarcely  dared  to  breathe. 
That  mournful  picture  of  Holbein  gives  an  exact  idea  of  the  time:  a  lean 
tiller  of  the  soil  leading  two  lean  horses,  followed  by  Death." 

110 


THE    RENAISSANCE 

chaplain  at  the  age  of  twelve  (there  were  bishops  and  cardinals 
at  five  and  eight  years).  He  studied  theology  in  Paris,  and 
there  wrote  a  Latin  discourse  for  the  rector  Nicolas  Cop,  which 
expressed  approval  of  the  doctrine  of  justification  by  faith. 
This  created  a  great  scandal.  Calvin,  obliged  to  flee,  led  the 
life  of  a  fugitive  for  almost  two  years.  During  this  time  he 
visited  the  court  of  Queen  Marguerite  of  Navarre  where  many 
dissenters  took  refuge,  among  them :  Marot,  Roussel,  and  Bona- 
venture  Desperiers.  In  1534,  Calvin  embraced  Protestantism 
and  a  year  later  he  finished  his  famous  Institution  of  the 
Christian  Religion,  a  Summa  theologiae  designed  to  fix  the  new 
doctrine,  and  to  prevent  Protestantism  from  becoming  free 
thought.  It  is  a  code  in  which  all  is  foreseen,  all  is  defined, 
all  is  as  narrowly  confined  as  possible,  and  all  reduced  to  one 
sole  and  central  idea.  That  idea  is  that  God  is  all,  and 
man  is  nothing.  From  this  postulate,  with  its  consequences 
and  conclusions,  Calvin  deduced  Protestantism  as  he  under- 
stood it.  All  his  theology,  all  his  arguments,  all  his  morality, 
rest  on  that  foundation.  It  was  a  profession  of  faith  and  a 
manifesto  with  a  celebrated  preface  addressed  to  Francis  I. 
It  established  the  French  Reformation,  but  Calvin  was  once 
more  obliged  to  leave  the  country.  The  following  year  he  was 
called  to  Geneva  to  teach  theology.  Farel,  from  Dauphine,1 
convinced  of  Calvin's  ability,  persuaded  him  to  accept  the 

1  Farel,  born  near  Gap,  in  Dauphine",  in  1489,  was  a  noted  French  re- 
former and  itinerant  preacher  in  Switzerland.  In  1530  he  introduced  the 
Reformation  into  Neuchatel,  and  settled  in  Geneva  in  1532.  In  spite  of  a 
bitter  and  protracted  opposition,  he  brought  about  the  establishment  of 
the  Reform  Movement  by  the  Genevan  Great  Council  on  August  27, 
1535.  The  lords  of  the  province  of  Dauphin^  bore  three  dolphins  on  their 
crest,  hence  the  name.  Humbert  II,  Dauphin  de  Viennois,  ceded  the 
Dauphine1  to  Philip  of  Valois  on  condition  that  the  eldest  son  of  the  kings 
of  France  should  be  called  the  Dauphin.  Apropos  of  heirs  apparent,  it  is 
interesting  to  note  the  origin  of  the  title  of  Prince  of  Wales:  The  land  of 
Wales  never  wanted  to  submit  to  England,  which  made  all  efforts  to  over- 
come the  antipathy  of  the  province.  At  last,  the  people  of  Wales  declared 
that  if  a  chief  were  given  to  them  who  did  not  speak  a  word  of  English, 
and  had  never  committed  an  evil  action,  they  would  accept  him.  Accord- 
ingly, when  a  son  was  born  to  the  King  of  England,  the  infant,  who  ob- 
viously fulfilled  these  requisites,  was  declared  to  be  the  chief  of  the  Welsh 
clans.  Since  that  time  the  oldest  son,  heir  presumptive,  of  the  kings  of 
England,  has  borne  the  title  of  Prince  of  Wales. 

Ill 


mission  to  reform  the  city.  Onee  pledged  to  the  task,  Calvin 
gave  himself  to  it  entirely.  He  exercised  an  absolute  author- 
ity :  he  reorganized  the  whole  government  giving  it  a  political 
constitution ;  he  imposed  his  confession  of  faith  and  his  inter- 
pretation of  it;  the  family  and  their  habits  were  regulated 
by  law  even  as  to  their  mode  of  dressing  and  the  table  ex- 
penditures. At  the  end  of  eighteen  months  the  city,  exas- 
perated by  his  pious  tyranny,  drove  him  away ;  two  years  later 
it  recalled  him.  Calvin  returned,  took  his  place  again  in  no- 
wise changed.  He  persecuted  the  hardened  ones  in  the  name 
of  the  law,  in  the  name  of  the  gospel;  he  had  them  judged, 
sentenced,  executed,  without  hesitation,  without  compunction. 
He  believed  that  he  alone  knew  the  truth,  possessing  the 
absolute  right  to  repress  and  punish  error.  One  of  the  victims 
of  his  intolerance  was  Michel  Servet,  or  Servetus,1  who  was 
burned  at  the  stake.  Calvin  used,  as  matter  for  his  con- 
demnation, friendly  controversy  of  theological  questions  on 
which  they  differed.  Another  victim  was  Jacques  Gruet  who 
was  decapitated.  During  twenty-four  years — from  Septem- 
ber, 1541,  till  the  day  when  it  was  written  on  the  registers  of 
the  city:  "  May  27,  1564,  Jean  Calvin  has  departed  to  God  " 
— he  exercised  an  absolute  sway.  His  power  to  keep  enforced 
a  growing  body  of  ecclesiastical  ordinances  made  Geneva  the 
citadel  of  Protestantism.  The  exiles  of  all  countries  flocked 
there,  especially  the  French;  but  all  had  to  bend  before  the 
law  of  the  reformer. 

At  the  age  of  thirty-one  Calvin  married:  this  was,  as  it 
were,  a  necessity  for  every  chief  of  the  reformers — the  pledge 
of  a  definite  rupture  with  the  Roman  Church.  (Erasmus  says 
on  this  subject:  "  With  them  it  ends,  as  in  a  comedy,  with 
marriage.")  Calvin  had  to  yield  to  the  solicitations  of  his 

1  Michael  Servetus,  born  in  Spain  in  1511,  was  a  controversialist  and  a 
physician.  He  published  at  Hagenau,  in  1531,  an  essay  directed  against 
the  doctrine  of  the  Trinity,  entitled  De  Trinitatis  erroribus,  which  attracted 
great  attention.  Afterwards  he  studied  theology  at  Louvain.  In  1553 
he  published  Christianismi  Restitutio,  which  caused  him  to  be  arrested  by 
order  of  the  inquisitor-general  at  Lyons.  He  made  his  escape,  but  he  was 
apprehended  at  the  instance  of  Calvin  at  Geneva,  on  his  way  to  Naples, 
and  was  burned  after  a  trial  for  heresy  which  lasted  from  August  14  to 
October  26,  1553. 

112 


THE   RENAISSANCE 

friends,  and  he  resigned  himself  to  matrimony.  He  married 
Idelette  de  Bure,  the  widow  of  an  Anabaptist  whom  he  had 
converted. 

Calvin,  notes  Paul  Albert,  worked  with  a  somber,  collected, 
indefatigable  energy.  Among  his  contemporaries  there  were 
men  like  Ulrich  von  Hutten,  Dolet,  Rabelais,  who  greeted 
the  returning  light  with  transports  of  joy;  who  were,  so  to 
speak,  intoxicated  with  the  sight  of  all  the  treasures  which 
antiquity  brought,  and  plunged  into  it  headlong.  Calvin,  on 
his  part,  remained  master  of  his  science;  he  dominated  it,  he 
assigned  to  it  a  determined  purpose.  It  was  for  him  a  means, 
not  an  end.  In  founding  the  Church  of  Geneva,  he  founded 
at  the  same  time  the  school  and  the  academy,  and  thus  set 
an  example  which  has  become  a  law.  This  was  one  of  the 
most  powerful  means  of  action  in  Protestantism,  and  in  the 
procedure  which  Calvin  adopted,  science  is  necessary,  but  it 
must  be  subordinated  to  faith.  The  Christian  must  be  in  a 
position  to  read  and  interpret  the  sacred  books;  but  he  is 
forbidden  to  find  in  them  anything  save  what  Calvin  finds 
in  them.  Calvin's  personal  taste  would  lead  him  to  write 
in  Latin ;  but  to  spread  his  writings  among  the  masses  he  em- 
ployed the  French  language — the  language  of  his  commen- 
taries on  the  Scriptures  of  his  more  than  three  thousand 
sermons.  Often  he  even  published  the  same  work  in  both 
languages;  this  he  did  notably  in  the  case  of  his  Christian 
Institution — his  life  work.  It  is  divided  into  four  books, 
the  general  titles  of  which  are:  Of  the  Knowledge  of  God; 
Of  God  the  Redeemer;  Of  the  Means  of  Participating  in 
the  Grace  of  Christ;  Of  the  Exterior  Means  of  Aid  to 
Salvation  (by  which  he  understood  the  church,  the  sacra- 
ments, the  polity).  The  basis  on  which  Calvin  established 
his  whole  doctrine  is  the  principle  of  justification  founded 
not  upon  works,  but  on  the  grace  of  God  through  the  blood 
of  Christ.1  This  is  the  point  of  departure  and  the  end.  All 

1  It  is  the  doctrine  that  men  are  saved  by  the  blood  of  Christ:  their 
works  avail  them  nothing.  Christ  died  for  them,  and  He  alone  can  save 
them.  The  Catholic  believes  that  he  can  save  himself:  he  is  commanded 
to  do  good  to  redeem  his  sins.  But  the  Catholic  is  also  asked  to  implore 
the  divine  grace,  and  to  follow  the  injunction  of  Christ:  "Ask,  and  ye  shall 
receive;  seek,  and  ye  shall  find;  knock,  and  it  shall  be  opened  unto  you." 
9  113 


THE    HISTORY   OF    FRENCH   LITERATURE 

religion,  since  creation,  is  reviewed,  explained,  demonstrated 
from  this  point  of  view.  There  is  no  deviation  or  halting; 
but  a  steadfast,  regular  progress,  an  imposing  gradation,  a 
powerful  and  simple  concentration.  Calvin  commands  re- 
spect, not  sympathy.  His  is  an  energetic,  profound  soul,  a 
strong  intelligence,  a  mind  with  a  limited  horizon.  Fanatics 
are  all  such,  and  Calvin  is  one  of  the  most  perfect  types  of 
fanaticism.  His  admirers  would  discover  under  this  rigidity 
a  depth  of  feeling — even  a  tender  and  compassionate  heart. 
This  is  an  illusion :  he  was  hard  and  dry,  and  he  walked  with 
a  high  authority.  The  style  is  like  the  man — rigid,  firm,  with- 
out abandon,  without  illumination.  "  Ce  style  si  triste,"  as 
Bossuet  called  it.  This  eloquence  so  grave  and  so  rigorous 
brought  about  the  divorce  of  the  Renaissance  and  the  Ref- 
ormation. 

Although  the  Renaissance  and  the  Reformation — two 
widely  different  movements — were  united  against  a  common 
cause — the  traditions  of  the  Middle  Ages — the  Renaissance 
triumphed  and  the  Reformation  suffered  defeat.  Catholicism 
was  almost  unconquerable  in  France.  Its  history  was  amalga- 
mated with  the  most  ancient  national  French  traditions. 
Clovis  had  become  master  of  Gaul  only  by  virtue  of  the  sup- 
port of  the  orthodox  bishops;  he  had  been  consecrated  at 
Reims,  and  the  consecration  was,  so  to  speak,  the  very  con- 
dition of  royal  authority.1  Since  the  eighth  century,  the 

1  After  the  battle  of  Tolbiac,  Clovis  and  three  thousand  of  his  soldiers 
were  baptized.  The  legend  says  that  during  the  commotion  of  Clovis's 
baptism,  the  clerk  charged  to  bring  the  holy  oil  to  anoint  the  royal  head 
found  himself  separated  from  the  suite  by  the  multitude  and  could  not 
approach  the  sacred  font.  The  moment  of  christening  had  come.  Hav- 
ing blessed  the  baptismal  water,  the  archbishop  (Remi)  called  for  the  oil 
with  which  to  mix  it,  but  in  vain.  Then  he  began  to  pray,  his  eyes  and 
hands  uplifted  to  heaven.  A  deep  anxiety  oppressed  the  spectators. 
Suddenly  a  dove  with  snowy  plumage  fluttered  in  the  air,  and  hov- 
ered over  the  prelate,  holding  in  its  beak  a  little  vial  containing  the 
holy  oil.  The  bishop  then  administered  the  sacrament  of  baptism,  say- 
ing: "King,  by  the  grace  of  God  thou  art  the  anointed  of  the  Lord;  in- 
stituted by  His  representative  on  earth.  The  throne  is  supported  by  the 
altar."  All  the  French  kings  were  crowned  at  Reims.  Henry  III  said 
while  placing  the  crown  on  his  head,  "It  pricks  me";  Louis  XVI,  "It  is 
in  my  way"  (die  me  gene).  The  Ampulia  (holy  vial)  is  preserved  in  the 
Cathedral  of  Reims. 

114 


THE   RENAISSANCE 

alliance  of  the  church  and  the  Carlovingian  kings  was  pledged, 
and  this  is  the  foundation  of  the  temporal  power 1  of  the 
popes.  Pepin  the  Short  having  been  anointed  king  by  Pope 
Stephen  II,  assisted  him  against  Aistulf,  King  of  the  Lom- 
bards, and  gave  to  the  Pope  the  exarchate  of  Ravenna  and 
the  Pentapolis.  Thus  he  laid  the  foundation  of  the  Papal 
States.  Charlemagne  confirmed  this  alliance  and  upheld 
Christendom  against  the  Saracens.  The  Crusades  originated 
in  France.  All  during  the  Middle  Ages  the  authority  of  the 
Holy  See  was  never  attacked.  Political  influence  which 
brought  about  the  controversies  between  Philip  IV  and  Boni- 
face VIII,  and  later  the  Great  Schism2  in  no  way  changed 
the  submission  of  the  people  to  the  church.  The  monastic 
orders,3  powerful  organizations  placed  their  wealth  and  their 
soldiers  at  the  disposition  of  the  sovereigns,  their  banners 
waved  beside  the  royal  oriflamme.  The  Catholic  Church  had 

1  Christ  said  to  St.  Peter:  "Thou  art  the  rock,  and  on  this  rock  I  will 
build  my  church,  and  the  gates  of  hell  shall  not  prevail  against  it."  Christ 
said  also  to  St.  Peter:  "Whatsoever  thou  shalt  bind  on  earth  shall  be 
loosed  in  heaven;  whatsoever  thou  shalt  loose  on  earth  shall  be  bound  in 
heaven."  It  is  on  this  authority  that  Catholics  base  confession  and  ab- 
solution. The  church  had  to  struggle  against  the  temporal  power  of  its 
adversaries,  and  so  it  seemed  necessary  that  it  should  have  not  only 
spiritual  authority  but  also  temporal  forces  at  its  disposal.  This  is  the 
origin  of  the  temporal  power  of  the  popes,  and  Catholicism's  justification 
for  it. 

J  There  were  two  Great  Schisms  or  dissentions.  One  existed  in  the 
Catholic  Church  from  1378-1417,  when  there  were  several  popes  at 
the  same  time  in  Avignon  and  in  Rome.  The  Council  of  Constance  and 
the  election  of  Martin  V  put  an  end  to  it.  The  other  Schism  was  between 
the  Latin  and  Greek  churches  and  began  in  the  ninth  century  owing  to 
some  doctrinal  difficulty  and  ended  in  a  final  division  in  1054  between 
Pope  Leo  IX  and  the  Patriarch  Michael  Cerularius. 

1  Originating  as  far  back  as  St.  Martin,  Apostle  of  the  Gauls,  founder  of 
the  first  convent  at  Marmoutier,  an  abbey  in  Touraine.  In  372  A.D.,  St. 
Martin,  desirous  of  securing  for  himself  a  retreat  outside  of  the  city,  had 
a  monastery  built  two  miles  distant.  At  first  there  were  only  a  few 
wooden  cells,  but  his  disciples  increased  rapidly.  The  original  name  was 
Majus  Monasterium,  corrupted  into  Marmoutier.  In  853  this  monastery 
was  destroyed  by  the  Normans,  but  the  Count  of  Touraine  had  it  rebuilt. 
It  is  said  to  have  been  the  first  convent  in  Western  France,  and  a  more 
important  one  than  that  which  St.  Martin  had  built  at  Ligug6  in  Poitou. 
Owing  to  the  recent  anti-Catholic  laws  in  France  it  is  now  abandoned. 

115 


THE    HISTORY   OF    FRENCH   LITERATURE 

always  been  in  complete  possession  of  the  arts  and  sciences 
and  its  highest  authority  in  matters  of  religion,  after  the  Pope 
and  the  Councils,1  was  invested  in  the  University  of  Paris  and 
in  the  Sorbonne. 

During  a  period  of  one  thousand  years,  writes  a  French 
critic,  one  can  discover  only  now  and  then — as  in  the  Roman 
de  la  Rose,  in  the  Renart,  in  the  fabliaux — some  witty  attacks 
on  the  churchmen,  especially  the  monks.  But  the  Gallic 
fervor  which  exercised  itself  at  their  expense  never  attacked 
the  institution  itself;  the  church  seemed  excellent,  useful,  in 
spite  of  the  abuses  of  individual  members.  Finally,  Catholi- 
cism in  France  was  an  edifice  imposing  in  its  massiveness  and 
duration — an  object  of  universal  veneration,  and  apparently 
indestructible. 

The  Reformation  therefore  did  not  affect  the  faith  of  the 
great  majority  in  France,  but  created  the  Counter-Reforma- 
tion; Henry  IV  in  order  to  secure  his  royal  position  was 
forced  to  embrace  the  Catholic  faith. 

1  The  Councils  are  assemblies  of  prelates  who  decide  the  more  important 
questions  concerning  the  church. 


CHAPTER   IX 

SIXTEENTH-CENTURY   WRITERS 

WITHIN  ten  years  the  three  books  which  were  "  the  very 
soul  of  the  century  "  were  written:  the  Pantagruel  of 
Rabelais,  the  Christian  Institution  of  Calvin,  and  the  Spiritual 
Exercises  of  Loyola.  Each  work  was  symbolical  of  the  thought 
underlying  its  great  question:  the  Renaissance,  the  Reforma- 
tion, and  Catholicism  in  France. 

Ignace  de  Loyola  (Inigo  Lopez  de  Recalde),  born  in  the 
castle  of  Loyola  in  Biscaya  in  1491,  was  page  at  the  court 
of  Ferdinand  V  of  Spain.  In  1521,  at  the  siege  of  Pampeluna, 
he  was  wounded  in  the  leg  by  a  cannon  ball;  the  wound  was 
indifferently  treated,  and  he  became  lame.  Loyola  was  the 
handsomest  man  of  his  day,  and  his  mother,  doubting  his 
patience  under  this  affliction,  turned  his  thoughts  to  piety. 
During  his  convalescence  a  life  of  the  Saints  was  placed  in 
his  hands,  and,  reading  it,  he  was  led  to  devote  himself  to 
God.  He  distributed  his  possessions  among  the  poor.  After 
consecrating  his  life  to  the  Virgin  Mary  in  the  sanctuary  at 
Montserrat,  he  went  to  live  in  a  cave  and  subjected  himself 
to  all  sorts  of  hardship.  Upon  his  return  from  a  pilgrimage 
to  the  Holy  Land,  he  studied  in  the  college  of  Montaigne. 
In  1534,  he  went  to  Paris  and  founded  a  society  with  six 
disciples:  Pierre  Lefevre,  Xaver,  Rodriguez,  Laynez,  Boba- 
dilla,  and  Salmeron,  who  met  in  a  subterranean  chapel  of  the 
church  of  Notre-Dame  de  Montmartre.  These  men  devoted 
their  lives  to  the  conversion  of  infidels,  and  to  the  redemption 
of  the  fallen.  Besides  the  vows  of  chastity,  of  poverty  and 
obedience,  they  swore  absolute  submission  to  the  Pope.  In 
1540  this  order  was  confirmed  by  Pope  Paul  III,  who  gave 
to  Loyola  the  Church  of  Jesus  and  named  the  order  Clercs 
reguliers  de  la  compagnie  de  Jesus,  afterwards  called  Jesuits. 

117 


THE    HISTORY   OF    FRENCH   LITERATURE 

They  carried  the  Gospel  to  China,  to  the  Indies,  to  America. 
The  organization  had  a  military  character,  and  Loyola  was 
elected  general;  nevertheless,  he  did  not  hesitate  to  perform 
most  menial  duties,  and  even  the  enemies  of  Loyola  recognized 
his  nobility,  piety,  and  disinterestedness.  He  was  canonized 
in  1622  by  Gregory  XV. 

Rabelais,  Amyot,  and  Montaigne  stand  foremost  among 
the  creators  of  the  beautiful  language  of  the  sixteenth  century, 
in  whose  learned  school  it  became  pure  and  wondrously  en- 
riched. A  French  critic  says,  in  Rabelais,  Amyot,  and 
Montaigne,  classic  antiquity  is  brought  into  perfect  union 
with  the  budding  genius  of  the  French  race.  In  their 
language  are  mingled  savory  expressions  of  the  vernacular 
and  words  borrowed  from  the  Latin  and  Greek,  forming  a 
vehicle  for  the  new  ideas  and  sensations  of  the  times.  Ra- 
belais reflects  the  soul  of  the  people,  powerful  and  trivial; 
Amyot  those  of  the  cultivated  bourgeoisie;  Montaigne  of  the 
gentleman  of  letters.  In  these  three  great  writers  the  sap  of 
the  race  rises,  circulates  with  force  and  bursts  forth  into  a 
youthful  and  vigorous  style,  full  of  contrast,  where  ideas 
crowd  and  press  for  expression,  alive  with  novelty. 

The  same  spirit  which  animated  these  great  writers, 
penetrated  all  the  arts  and  marked  them  with  a  profound 
imprint :  music  with  Goudimel ; *  eloquence  with  Calvin  and 
de  Beze;  erudition  with  Henry  Estienne;  natural  sciences 
with  Palissy  and  Olivier  de  Serres;2  poetry  with  d'Aubigne 
and  Du  Bartas,  memoires  and  pamphlets  with  Montluc,3  the 
Gascon  captain,  who  in  the  leisure  which,  to  his  great  regret, 
his  age  and  infirmities  left  him,  retraced  with  the  fire  of 
youth  his  exploits  and  his  thousand  adventures.  With  the 


1  Teacher  of  Palestrina,  "  prince  of  music." 

s  Palissy  was  the  creator  of  ceramics  in  France.  De  Serres  introduced 
the  cultivation  of  the  mulberry  tree. 

3  Getting  into  a  quarrel  with  a  passer-by,  Montluc  told  him,  furiously:  "I 
will  give  you,  scoundrel,  such  a  blow  with  my  fist  that  I  shall  hurl  you  into 
this  wall,  leaving  only  your  right  arm  free  to  salute  me,  if  perchance  I 
honor  you  by  passing  here  again."  He  was  a  noted  French  marshal. 
In  the  latter  years  of  his  life  he  dictated  from  memory  his  account  of  the 
wars  from  1521  to  1574.  Henry  IV  paid  it  a  just  tribute  in  calling  it  La 
Bible  du  Soldat. 

118 


SIXTEENTH-CENTURY   WRITERS 

audacious  courtier  Brantome,1  who  delighted  in  telling  the 
infamies  of  his  century — to  which  he  was  proud  of  belonging 
— L 'Hospital,  Sully,2  de  Thou,  Pasquier,  and  the  authors  of 
the  Satire  Menippee,  were  those  magistrates  and  men  of  letters 
who,  by  their  serious  writings,  or  their  satirical  pamphlets 
protested  against  the  follies  of  their  contemporaries,  and 
smoothed  the  road  for  the  generations  to  come. 

The  most  passionate  and  powerful  interpreter  of  the  spirit 
of  the  Renaissance  was  Rabelais.  According  to  F.  Brunetiere, 
he  was  the  living  incarnation  of  the  supreme  idea  of  the 
Renaissance:  that  of  the  goodness  or  the  divinity  of  nature. 
Francois  Rabelais  was  born  at  Chinon  in  Touraine  (between 
1485  and  1500;  died  about  1553).  At  an  early  age  he  entered 
the  Franciscan  order.  He  studied  Latin,  Greek,  Hebrew, 
German,  Italian,  Arabic,  and  the  natural  sciences,  in  spite 
of  the  interdiction  of  his  superiors,  and  was  therefore  im- 
prisoned. Protected  by  Geoffroy  Maillezais,  he  obtained  his 
pardon  and  entered  the  order  of  the  Benedictines.  He  left 
this  order,  too,  and  studied  medicine  in  the  University  of 
Montpellier.  In  1532  he  received  the  position  of  doctor  at 
the  hospital  in  Lyons.  He  was  obliged  to  write  almanacs  and 
facetious  books  (Pantagrueline  pronostication)  for  a  living, 
and  about  this  time  he  revised  an  old  popular  novel,  Les 
Grandes  et  estimables  Chroniques  du  grand  et  enorme  Geant 
Gargantua  (The  great  and  inestimable  chronicles  of  the  great 
and  enormous  Giant  Gargantua),  which  had  an  immense  suc- 
cess ;  shortly  after  he  wrote  a  continuation  to  this  novel  calling 
it  Pantagruel,  the  entire  title  being  Les  horribles  et  espouven- 
tables  Faits  et  Prouesses  du  ires  renomme  Pantagruel  Roy 
des  Dipsodes,  Fils  du  grand  Geant  Gargantua,  composes 
nouvellement  par  Maistre  Alcofribas  Nasier.  (The  horrible 
and  terrible  deeds  and  prowesses  of  the  much-renowned  Pan- 
tagruel King  of  the  Dipsodes,  son  of  the  great  Giant  Gargan- 

1  He  served  six  kings,  and  certainly  made  his  epoch  known;  for  he  tells 
everything,  and  instructs  by  depicting  with  singular  truthfulness  the  man- 
ners, qualities,  and  vices  of  the  time.  His  great  works  are  Vie  des  hommes 
ittustres  et  des  grands  capitaines  and  the  Vies  des  dames  galantes. 

1  It  was  Sully,  statesman  and  economist,  who  said:  "Tilling  and  grazing 
— these  are  the  two  breasts  by  which  France  is  nourished — the  true  mines 
and  treasures  of  Peru." 

119 


THE    HISTORY   OF    FRENCH   LITERATURE 

tua,  recently  composed  by  Master  Alcofribas  Nasier.1)  He 
was,  however,  recognized  as  the  author  of  this  book  as  well 
as  of  the  former  novel  which  had  been  censured  by  the  Sor- 
bonne.  To  escape  persecution,  he  went  to  Rome  in  the  capac- 
ity of  physician  and  secretary  to  the  Cardinal  du  Bellay. 
In  1536  Rabelais  received  from  Paul  III  a  bull  absolving  him 
from  his  apostasy  (his  flights  from  the  monasteries).  About 
two  years  later  he  was  practising  medicine  in  Lyons,  and  then 
in  Montpellier,  where  he  was  appointed  Professor  of  Anat- 
omy.2 In  1539  he  was  physician  to  William  du  Bellay,  gov- 
ernor of  Turin. 

Rabelais  remodeled  the  chronicles  entirely,  and  called  the 
book  Gargantua,  which  although  written  after  Pantagruel, 
is  really  the  First  Book  of  Rabelais 's  great  work.  He  begins 
with  a  humorous  prologue  addressed  to  the  "  very  illustrious 
drinkers,"  and  then  the  story  tells  of  the  birth,  childhood, 
and  education  of  the  Giant  Gargantua.  Then  follows  a  veiled 
satire  against  royal  conquests  in  the  description  of  the  war 
between  Grandgousier,3  the  grandfather  of  the  giant  and 
King  Picrochole,  "  the  stupid,  vainglorious,  and  headstrong 
conqueror,  the  crowned  imbecile."  One  of  the  heroes  of  this 
war  is  the  monk,  Jean  des  Entommeurs,  who  put  to  flight 
with  his  cross  an  entire  troop  of  soldiers.  He  also  founded 
the  abbey  of  Thelema,  the  motto  of  which  was  Fais  ce  que 
vouldras  (Do  what  thou  wilt). 

Pantagruel,  which  became  the  Second  Book  in  the  series, 
but  was  really  written  before  Gargantua,  treats  of  the  educa- 
tion of  Pantagruel.  The  lofty  passages  are  those  which  con- 
cern education  and  morality.  Rabelais  insisted  that  physical 
exercise  should  be  mixed  with  intellectual  work,  that  the 
studies  be  varied,  and  not  too  exactingly  long,  and  above  all, 
that  study  should  have  its  fountain-source  in  nature  and  not  in 
books.  Thus  Rabelais  invented  the  object  lesson  long  before 

1  Anagram  of  Francois  Rabelais? 

1  In  the  Middle  Ages,  and  later,  dissections  were  performed  by  the  bar- 
bers, who  were  also  surgeons,  the  professor  himself  never  handling  a  knife. 

1  Most  of  the  characters  have  become  types;  thus  Grandgousier,  the 
grandfather  of  the  giants,  is  the  personification  of  the  glutton;  flargantua 
has  become  proverbial  as  an  insatiable  eater;  Pantagruel,  as  an  Epicurean 
philosopher  and  a  jolly  companion. 

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SIXTEENTH-CENTURY   WRITERS 

our  modern  pedagogues.  In  this  book  occurs  the  famous  letter 
of  Gargantua  to  Pantagruel,  which  has  been  called  the  Chant 
triomphal  de  la  Renaissance  (The  triumphal  song  of  Renais- 
sance). An  amusing  description  is  given  of  Panurge,  the  man 
who  ' '  if  he  had  sixty -three  ways  of  finding  money,  had  also 
two  hundred  and  fourteen  ways  of  spending  it. ' '  The  character 
of  Panurge,  says  Saintsbury,  "  is  hardly  comparable  to  any 
other  character  in  literature  except  Falstaff.  The  main  idea 
in  Panurge  is  the  absence  of  morality  in  the  wide  Aristotelian 
sense,  with  the  presence  of  almost  all  other  good  qualities." 

The  Third  Book  signed  by  Rabelais  and  preceded  by  a 
royal  privilege  granted  in  1545,  also  opens  with  a  curious 
prologue.  The  story  confines  itself  principally  to  conversa- 
tion, with  little  action.  In  spite  of  the  royal  privilege,  this 
book  was  also  censured  by  the  Sorbonne,  and  Rabelais  felt  it 
prudent  to  take  refuge  in  Metz  where  he  took  the  position  of 
physician  in  the  hospital.  After  a  year  he  returned  to  France, 
but  with  the  death  of  Francis  I,  his  royal  protection  ended 
and  Rabelais  was  not  yet  in  the  good  graces  of  Henry  II. 
Moreover,  the  famous  Chambre  Ardente  1  created  for  the  trial 
of  heretics  by  the  Parliament  of  Paris,  was  in  session  and 
Rabelais,  who  had  aroused  anew  the  indignation  of  the  Sor- 
bonne by  his  Fourth  Book,  fled  again  to  Rome,  where  besides 
the  Cardinal  du  Bellay's  protection  he  enjoyed  that  of  the 
powerful  families  of  Guises  and  of  Chatillon. 

The  Fourth  Book,  published  about  1548,  describes  the 
adventurous  voyages  of  Pantagruel,  Panurge,  and  Brother 
Jean,  who  go  in  search  of  the  oracle  of  La  Dive  Bouteille 
(the  Divine  Bottle)  visiting  on  the  way  a  series  of  fantastic 
islands  and  America.  In  this  book  the  incidents  of  the  Storm 

1  A  special  court  of  justice,  by  which  over  five  hundred  death  sentences 
were  passed  in  two  years.  The  name  Chambre  Ardente  (burning-room) 
was,  according  to  some  authorities,  derived  from  the  fact  that  the  people 
tried  there  were  usually  condemned  to  be  burned.  Other  authorities  say 
it  was  so  called  because  the  room  in  which  the  tribunal  sat  was  illuminated 
by  many  burning  tapers.  The  most  celebrated  of  these  Chambre  Ardentes 
was  the  one  in  session  at  the  Arsenal  in  the  seventeenth  century  to  pass 
judgment  on  the  great  trial  called  Affaire  des  poisons  (poison).  The 
names  of  many  people  of  high  rank  were  on  the  files  of  this  case,  among 
them  that  of  Madame  de  Montespan,  the  king's  favorite,  which  caused 
Louis  XIV  to  put  an  end  to  this  court. 

121 


THE    HISTORY   OF    FRENCH   LITERATURE 

and  of  the  Frozen  Words  occur,  and  the  amusing  story  is 
told  of  Panurge 's  sea  voyage  during  which  he  avenges  him- 
self for  an  insult  offered  him  by  Dindenaut,  a  sheep  merchant. 
This  merchant  has  a  flock  of  sheep  on  board.  Panurge  buys 
one  of  these  and  throws  it  into  the  sea;  the  rest  of  the  flock 
follow,  dragging  with  them  Dindenaut  and  the  shepherds  in 
their  vain  attempt  to  save  the  flock.  From  this  story  arises 
the  proverbial  "  moutons  de  Panurge,"  satirizing  the  imita- 
tive extravagance  of  the  multitude. 

The  Fifth  Book  is  of  doubtful  authority.  It  was  published 
about  nine  years  after  Rabelais 's  death  (1553),  and  is  a  con- 
tinuation of  the  description  of  the  voyages  and  fantastic 
islands.  The  travelers  visit  Ringing  Island,  the  island  of  the 
Furred  Cats,  and  of  the  Lanterns,  and  conducted  by  a  Lantern 
(Learning  or  Study),  an  inhabitant  of  the  Island  of  Lantern, 
they  finally  reach  the  Island  of  the  Bottle.  Here  the  priestess 
Bacbuc  initiates  them  in  its  mysteries — "  in  wine  is  truth, 
good  hope  lies  at  the  bottom  of  it  " — which  means,  as  ex- 
plained by  the  commentators,1  that  for  the  conquest  of  science 
two  things  are  necessary:  God's  guidance,  and  the  society  of 
man.  Panurge  receives  the  advice  of  the  oracle  of  the  Holy 
Bottle  which  is — Trinch  (Drink). 

The  satirical  parts  of  Rabelais 's  books  are  directed  against 
the  aggressive  policies  of  the  monarchs,  the  religious  hypo- 
crites, the  charlatanism  of  physicians  and  against  the  insolence 
and  ignorance  of  the  great  lords.  He  knew  how  to  veil  his 
formidable  attacks  with  a  torrent  of  inoffensive  buffoonery 
and  unintelligible  allegories.  No  satirist  ever  wielded  the 
weapon  of  sarcasm  with  such  an  audacious  and  fearless  art. 
With  his  inexhaustible  fund  of  knowledge,  his  gayety,  his 
bursts  of  laughter,  he  disarmed  the  very  one  whom  he  had 
made  his  butt: 

Mieulx  est  de  ris  que  de  larmes  escrires, 
Pour  ce  que  rire  est  le  propre  de  1'homme.1 

1  The  commentators  of  Rabelais  have  seen  in  his  Grandgousier  the  per- 
sonification of  Louis  XII;  in  Gargantua,  Francis  I,  and  in  Pantagruel, 
Henry  II,  and  many  other  representations  under  fictitious  names  of  con- 
temporary men  and  things. 

*  It  is  better  to  write  of  laughter  than  of  tears, 
For  laughter  is  the  gift  of  man. 
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SIXTEENTH-CENTURY   WRITERS 

Rabelais 's  language  is  very  rich  and  picturesque,  his  humor 
infinitely  varied,  and  his  writings  show  force,  power  of  thought 
and  a  sense  of  morality.  Often,  however,  he  is  rough  and 
coarse,  but  coarseness  had  always  been  the  characteristic  of 
comic  literature.  La  Bruyere  says  of  him:  where  he  is  bad, 
he  is  worse  than  the  worst,  it  is  the  charm  of  the  canaille; 
where  he  is  good  he  is  exquisite. 

The  following  legend  is  explanatory  of  the  famous  phrase 
— quart  d'heure  de  Rabelais1 — denoting  anxious  moments: 
Rabelais  stopped  at  an  inn  in  Lyons,  and,  after  feasting 
for  several  days,  found  himself,  as  was  often  the  case, 
without  a  sou  to  pay  his  bill,  and  no  means  of  returning  to 
Paris,  where  he  had  a  most  important  engagement.  His 
dilemma  was  great,  and  for  some  moments  (the  "  quarter  of 
an  hour  ")  he  was  in  despair,  when  suddenly  he  bethought 
himself  of  a  plan.  He  placed  two  packages  on  the  table  in  his 
room,  labeled  "  poison  for  the  king,"  "  poison  for  the 
dauphin."  The  packages  were  soon  discovered  and  Rabelais 
was  arrested  and  dispatched  to  Paris,  where  he  was  brought 
before  Francis  I,  to  whom  he  explained  the  joke  he  had  played 
on  the  innkeper  and  gave  the  proof  of  it  by  swallowing  the 
supposed  poison.  At  which  the  king  laughed  most  heartily. 

No  great  writer  is  read  so  little,  and  no  character  in  litera- 
ture has  been  so  distorted  by  legends  2  as  Rabelais.  To  quote 

1  Used  now  in  the  more  special  sense  of  "the  time  to  settle  a  bill,"  and 
especially  the  addition  at  a  restaurant.  H.  J.  Vetter  in  one  of  his  paintings 
has  immortalized  the  quart  d'heure  de  Rabelais. 

*  "  The  cur6  of  Meudon  (Rabelais  was  cure"  of  Meudon,  a  small  town  near 
Paris,  for  not  quite  one  year)  appears  to  us  under  that  illumined  mask  in 
which  he  so  much  resembles  the  little  King  of  Yvetot."    See  the  song  of 
Beranger  (May,  1813),  Le  Roy  d'Yvetot  : 
II  e"tait  un  roi  d'Yvetot  There  was  a  king  of  Yvetot, 

Peu  connu  dans  1'histoire  little  known  to  history;  went  to 

Se  levant  tard,  se  couchant  t6t,  bed  early,  got  up  late,  and  slept 

Dormant  fort  bien  sans  gloire,  quite  well  without  glory — crowned 

Et  couronn6  par  Jeanneton  by  Jeanneton  with  a  simple  cotton 

D'un  simple  bonnet  de  coton  night-cap,  so  they  say. 

Dit-on.  Oh!  Oh!  Oh!  Oh!  ah!  ah!  ah!  ah! 

Oh!  Ohl  Oh!  Oh!  ah!  ah!  ah!  ah!  What  a  good  little  king  was  thatt 

Quel  bon  petit  roi  c'Stait  la!  La,  la. 

La,  la-  He  ate  his  four  meals  a  day, 

II  faisait  ses  quatre  repas,  etc.  etc. 

123 


THE    HISTORY   OF    FRENCH   LITERATURE 

Professor  Tilley  in  his  excellent  book  on  Rabelais :  ' '  In  spite, 
however,  of  our  scanty  knowledge,1  certain  facts  in  his  life 
and  character  stand  plainly  out.  We  must  abandon  the 
legend  which  represents  him  as  a  gluttonous  and  winebibbing 
buffoon,  as  an  unfrocked  priest,  as  a  sort  of  ecclesiastical 
Falstaff.  We  have  seen  what  his  relations  were  with  Guil- 
laume  and  Jean  du  Bellay,  two  of  the  foremost  men  in  the 
kingdom;  we  have  seen  how  he  was  respected  by  men  like 
Geoff roy  d'Estissac,  the  Bishop  of  Maillezais,  and  the  dis- 
tinguished jurist,  Andre  Tiraqueau,  and  how  humanists  like 
Salmon  Macrin,  and  Dolet,  and  Voulte,  and  Jean  de  Boys- 
sonne,  spoke  in  the  highest  terms  of  his  learning  and  of 
his  skill  as  a  physician.  But,  perhaps,  it  is  from  the  letters 
written  to  him  during  his  sojourn  at  Turin  by  Guillaume 
Pellicier,  Bishop  of  Montpellier,  that  we  get  the  most  con- 
vincing proof  of  the  high  regard  in  which  he  was  held,  not 
only  by  men  of  his  own  rank,  but  by  those  far  above  him 
in  power  and  station,  princes  of  the  church  and  patrons  of 
humanism. ' ' 

For  further  explanation  Professor  Tilley  introduces  an  ex- 
tract from  Hippocratis  Aphorismorum  Paraphrasis  Poetica: 
"  You  will,  perhaps,  think  the  man  was  a  buffoon  and  a  jester, 
one  who  angled  for  dinner  with  witty  speeches.  No,  he  was 
no  buffoon,  no  jester  of  the  market  place,  but  one  who,  with 
the  penetration  of  a  distinguished  mind,  laughed  at  the 
human  race,  its  foolish  wishes  and  credulous  hopes.  He  passed 
his  days  free  from  material  care,  his  sails  ever  filled  with 
the  breeze  of  prosperity.  Nor  would  you  find  anyone  more 
learned,  when  it  pleased  him  to  lay  aside  laughter  for  serious 
topics.  ...  If  a  great  and  difficult  question  had  to  be  solved 
by  industry  and  learning,  you  would  have  said  that  he  alone 
saw  into  the  greatest  mysteries,  that  to  him  alone  were  re- 
vealed the  secrets  of  nature.  .  .  .  He  was  familiar  with  all 
the  learning  of  Greece  and  Rome,  and  like  a  second  Democritus 
laughed  at  the  idle  fears  and  hopes  of  populace  and  princes, 
and  at  the  vain  cares  and  anxious  labors  of  this  transitory 
life." 

1  The  Sociele"  des  Etudes  Rabelaisiennes  was  founded  in  1902  for  re- 
searches of  Rabelais's  works. 

124 


SIXTEENTH-CENTURY   WRITERS 

Jacques  Amyot  (1513-1593),  very  poor,  very  laborious, 
made  himself  the  servant  of  the  well-to-do  scholars  of  the 
College  de  France  in  order  to  profit  by  the  course  of  public 
lectures.  It  is  said  that  he  worked  at  night  by  the  light  of 
burning  coal,  and  that  every  week  he  received  a  loaf  of  bread 
from  his  mother  in  Melun,  through  the  boatmen  on  the 
Seine.  By  dint  of  privations  and  perseverance  he  learned 
Latin,  Greek,  philosophy,  and  mathematics,  and  then  received 
the  chair  of  Latin  and  Greek  at  the  University  of  Bourges. 
Successively  preceptor,  doctor  of  letters,  doctor  of  sciences, 
professor  at  Bourges — Francis  I  gave  him  the  revenues  of  the 
Abbaye  of  Bellozane.  Under  the  successors  of  Francis,  he 
was  named  Grand  Almoner  of  France,  preceptor  of  the  future 
king,  Charles  IX,  and  finally  Bishop  of  Auxerre.  Amyot 
said  to  the  prince  who  caused  the  massacre  of  St.  Bar- 
tholomew :  * '  Our  Lord  has  invested  you  with  a  singular  good- 
ness, inclined  of  itself  to  love,  honor,  and  esteem  everything 
that  is  virtuous.  It  is  not  true  greatness  to  be  able  to  do 
everything  one  can,  but  to  aspire  to  all  that  one  ought  to  do. 
The  eternal  law  which  commands  princes  as  well  as  other  men, 
is  righteousness,  truth,  and  justice."  Unfortunately,  Amyot 
had  not  the  necessary  moral  authority  to  engrave  such  words 
on  the  soul  of  his  pupil,  nor  were  they  in  accord  with  the 
principles  of  his  mother,  who  thoroughly  dominated  her  son. 
Amyot's  great  work  is  the  translation  of  all  of  Plutarch's 
works,  but  the  best  in  that  vast  collection  is  his  translation 
of  the  "  Lives  "  of  Plutarch — the  classic  that  made  Plutarch 
the  most  popular  of  ancient  authors  in  France.  Amyot  had 
the  advantage  of  writing  in  French  and  his  work  addressed 
itself  to  all  who  knew  how  to  read. 

The  first  classicist  in  France  was  Michel  Eyquem,  seigneur 
de  Montaigne,  born  in  1533,  in  the  castle  of  Montaigne  in 
Perigord.  According  to  Sainte-Beuve  he  was  the  wisest 
Frenchman  that  ever  lived.  His  father,  although  a  nobleman, 
chose  as  godparents  for  his  son  people  of  humble  rank  and 
had  him  brought  up  by  peasants.  Montaigne  himself  tells 
that  his  father's  idea  was  to  make  him  hardy  and  frugal,  and 
to  bring  him  in  contact  with  the  class  of  people  who  would 
stretch  out  their  arms  to  him  rather  than  those  who  would 
turn  their  backs  on  him.  Montaigne  also  tells  that  besides 

125 


THE    HISTORY   OF    FRENCH   LITERATURE 

his  peasant  nurse  he  had  a  German  tutor,  Horstanus,  who 
spoke  only  Latin  to  him,  so  that  at  six  years  of  age,  Montaigne 
knew  nothing  of  French,  but  had  acquired  Latin  perfectly 
without  rules,  without  books  and  grammars,  without  beatings, 
and  without  tears.  At  six  years  of  age  he  entered  the  college 
of  Guyenne  in  Bordeaux.  Later  he  studied  law,  and  at  the 
age  of  twenty-three  was  made  a  councilor  in  the  Parliament 
of  Bordeaux.  During  this  time  he  formed  his  friendship  for 
Etienne  de  La  Boetie,  of  which  he  writes :  * '  if  one  should  ask 
me  why  I  love  him,  I  feel  I  can  but  express  myself  thus: 
because  it  was  he ;  because  it  was  I. ' ' 

Montaigne  was  attached  to  the  courts  of  Francis  II  and 
Henry  III,  and  witnessed  the  massacre  of  Saint  Bartholomew, 
the  violence  of  the  League,  and  all  the  atrocities  committed 
in  the  name  of  religion — in  France  the  Catholics  were  burn- 
ing the  Protestants,  in  Geneva  the  Protestants  were  burning 
the  Catholics.  "  Combien  j'ai  vu  de  condamnations  plus 
criminelles  que  le  crime!  "  (How  many  condemnations  I  have 
seen  more  criminal  than  the  crimes!)  wrote  Montaigne;  and 
at  this  time,  when  in  religion,  in  literature,  in  politics,  every- 
one said  ' '  I  know  all, ' '  Montaigne  took  for  his  device, ' '  What 
do  I  know?  "  (Que  sais-je?)  With  a  profound  knowledge  of 
human  nature  and  with  his  classical  acquirements  he  preached 
skepticism.  And  in  Montaigne's  skepticism  is  expressed  his 
humanity — his  toleration.  It  is  the  affirmation  that  in  this 
world  where  relatives  rule  it  is  wrong  to  believe  oneself  the 
infallible  holder  of  the  truth.  Montaigne's  skepticism  pro- 
claims the  liberty  of  the  conscience,  and  preserves  human 
morality. 

After  visiting  Germany,  Switzerland,  and  Italy,  he  with- 
drew to  his  castle  in  Perigord,  and  wrote  a  history  to  which 
he  gave  the  modest  title  of  Essais  (two  volumes  were  published 
in  1580,  and  J;he  third  in  1588).  Without  pretension  he  writes 
in  his  introduction:  "  C'est  icy  un  livre  de  bon  foy,  lecteur," 
and  describes  his  work  as  "  un  parler  simple  et  naif  tel  sur 
le  papier  qu'a  la  bouche."  (This  is  a  book  of  good  faith, 
reader,  a  conversation  simple  and  unpretentious  on  paper  as 
I  would  talk.)  And  he  excelled  in  this  ability  to  talk — an 
art  in  which  no  people  have  surpassed  the  French.  His 
Essais,  which  Cardinal  de  Perron  called  the  breviary  of  well- 

126 


SIXTEENTH-CENTURY   WRITERS 

bred  people,  are  a  series  of  about  one  hundred  and  seven 
treatises  in  which  he  discusses  many  questions  on  society, 
literature,  religion,  friendship,  politics,  etc.  It  is  a  moral  and 
philosophical  work,  the  unique  subject  of  which  is  Montaigne 
himself.  It  marks  the  beginning  of  a  long  epoch  of  classical 
French  literature  which  influenced  Voltaire,  Rousseau,  Mon- 
tesquieu and  the  Encyclopedists.  Montaigne's  work  is  the 
"  first  by  virtue  of  seniority  and  glory  of  all  those  master- 
pieces which  are  part  of  the  French  genius  in  its  striving  to- 
ward the  perfection  of  the  human  mind. ' ' 

From  an  intellectual  point  of  view  Montaigne  esteems 
ignorance.  "  Beaucoup  savoir  apporte  occasion  de  plus 
douter, ' ' *  but,  says  Faguet,  there  are  two  kinds  of  ignorance : 
one  elementary,  which  knows  nothing  because  it  does  not 
know;  the  other,  refined,  elevated,  which  knows  nothing  after 
having  learned  everything  because  it  has  found  out  that  to 
learn  everything  leads  to  knowing  nothing.  And  the  first 
one  is  the  better,  and  the  second  is  not  bad.  Hence  Mon- 
taigne's famous  mot:  "  Ignorance  and  incuriosity  are  a  soft 
pillow  for  a  well-made  head. ' ' 

In  his  religious  views  Montaigne  was  very  circumspect; 
he  never  attacked  any  doctrine.  In  questions  of  controversy, 
he  confined  himself  to  arguments,  but  rarely  gave  an  opinion. 
It  has  been  stated  that  he  said  nothing  because  he  knew  noth- 
ing on  this  subject,  or  that  he  doubted  everything.  Professor 
Dowden's2  symbolism  with  reference  to  this  phase  of  Mon- 
taigne's character  is  striking:  "  Perhaps  his  faith  wavered; 
perhaps  he  could  not  really  check  the  advance  of  his  question- 
ing spirit  at  the  point  which  seemed  most  convenient.  The 
higher  souls  alone,  he  thought,  know  an  assured  belief.  He  at 
least,  imperfect  believer  as  he  was,  had  provided,  by  his  in- 
genious artistry,  a  defense  of  the  faith  unconceived  by  them. 
He  could  imagine  the  happier  state  and  he  would  in  his 
outward  conduct  conform  to  all  the  duties  which  such  a  state 
implies.  Was  he  a  skeptic  ?  Perhaps  so,  at  times,  in  the  back- 
shop  of  his  mind.  But  he  was  also  a  Perigourdin,  a  Christian, 
a  Catholic,  a  conservative,  and  as  such  he  would  behave.  It 

1  "The  more  we  know,  the  more  we  are  inclined  to  doubt." 
1  See  Professor  Dowden's  Montaigne. 
127 


THE    HISTORY   OF    FRENCH    LITERATURE 

was  as  if  the  tower  of  Montaigne 1  were  an  allegory  of  the 
fabric  of  his  soul.  Below  was  the  chapel  with  its  altar,  where 
the  mass  might  be  devoutly  celebrated.  Up  aloft  was  the  bell 
which  at  the  appointed  hour  rang  its  Ave  Maria.  Below  was 
the  region  of  spiritual  faith,  but  the  place  was  not  quite 
habitable.  Between  the  two  was  the  library,  where  Montaigne 
spent  most  of  his  days,  and  most  of  the  hours  of  each  day. 
It  was  the  region  of  moral  prudence.  In  the  library  he  could 
think  his  own  thoughts,  or  gaze  at  its  beams  and  joists  and 
ponder  the  sentences  of  a  philosopher's  creed;  here  he  could 
be  wise  with  a  human  wisdom,  and  Seneca  and  Plutarch — not 
the  fathers  of  the  church — were  his  companions. ' '  Montaigne 
died  in  1592. 

1  Montaigne  in  one  of  his  essays  describes  the  tower,  his  favorite  place 
of  retreat.  The  first,  second,  and  third  floors  were  occupied  by  his  chapel, 
library,  and  bedroom,  respectively,  with  the  belfry  overhead. 


CHAPTER   X 

SIXTEENTH-CENTURY   POETRY   AND    PROSE 

AFTER  Villon,  the  first  great  lyric  poet  in  France,  poetry 
fell  into  a  decadence  during  the  period  of  the  grands  rhetori- 
queurs  (great  rhetoricians).  They  were  the  fashion  at  the 
courts  of  Burgundy  and  Brittany  and  until  the  accession  of 
Francis  I,  at  the  court  of  France.  Their  works  were  char- 
acterized by  an  unsuccessful  imitation  of  the  Latin,  and  by  a 
vain  and  pretentious  style.  Their  attempt  to  lead  the  poetical 
thought  of  a  nation  into  an  entirely  strange  and  artificial  path 
did  not  succeed,  and  the  old  form  of  poetry  triumphed. 
Poetry,  however,  never  reached  sublime  heights  in  the  six- 
teenth century  in  France.  Of  this  a  French  critic  writes: 
"  Lyrical  poetry  was  represented  by  Clement  Marot  with 
grace  but  with  little  feeling;  by  the  passionate  poets  of  the 
Lyonnaise  School  (Maurice  Sceve,  Louise  Labe),  who  in  their 
efforts  to  elevate  the  language  by  the  lofty  treatment  of  sub- 
jects lost  themselves  in  abstraction  and  subtleties;  by  Du 
Bellay  whose  poems  were  sad  and  personal,  and  by  Ronsard 
in  sensual  and  melancholy  qualities.  But  in  general  with 
Ronsard  and  the  poets  of  the  Renaissance,  inspiration  was 
suppressed  by  the  rules  of  classic  antiquity  and  poetry  was 
more  didactic  than  lyric.  Malherbe,  although  lyric  in  form, 
aimed  at  oratory.  After  Malherbe,  poetry  was  cultivated 
only  by  the  second-rate  poets,  such  as:  Theophile,  Maynard, 
Racan,  the  precieux  (Voiture,  Malleville,  Sarrazin,  Godeau, 
Saint-Armand,  Scudery,  Scarron),  who  introduced  into  their 
poems  more  fine  wit  than  they  did  feeling.  And  it  was 
only  in  the  Fables  of  La  Fontaine  and  in  the  songs  and 
choruses  of  Racine  that  lyric  poetry  reached  again  true 
beauty." 

Clement  Marot,  "  the  poet  of  princes,"  was  born  in  1497 
10  129 


THE    HISTORY   OF    FRENCH   LITERATURE 

at  Cahors.  Through  the  influence  of  his  father,  the  poet 
Jean  Marot,  Clement  was  early  introduced  to  court  life.  He 
became  attached  to  the  court  of  Marguerite  de  Valois,  Queen 
of  Navarre,  and  later  to  that  of  Francis  I.  He  followed  that 
monarch  on  his  expeditions,  and  almost  all  the  important 
events  of  his  reign  are  sung  by  Marot.  Marot  was  constantly 
persecuted  by  the  Sorbonne  and  being  accused  of  heresy,  he 
was  imprisoned  at  various  times,  owing  his  deliverance  to 
the  intervention  of  Marguerite  and  the  king.  Some  histo- 
rians say  that  upon  an  accusation  of  his  mistress :  ' '  Prenz-le, 
(take  him,)  il  a  mange  le  lard,"  1  he  was  arrested  by  order  of 
the  inquisitor  and  imprisoned  in  the  Chatelet.  In  his  distress, 
Marot  wrote  Lyon  Jamet  a  letter  in  which,  making  a  funny 
and  very  piquant  application  of  the  fable  of  the  Lion  and  the 
Mouse,  he  besought  him  to  effect  his  liberation.  Through 
Jamet 's  influence,  Charles  Guiart,  Bishop  of  Chartres,  who 
was  secretly  favorable  to  the  reformers,  issued  in  1526  a  decree 
of  arrest  against  Marot,  as  if  the  poet  had  not  already  felt 
the  hand  of  justice.  This  mandate  was  executed,  and  Marot, 
given  over  to  the  officers  of  the  bishop,  was  transferred  to 
Chartres,  where  the  hostelry  of  the  Eagle  was  assigned  to 
him  for  a  prison.  Here  he  was  visited  and  feasted  by  all 
the  influential  people  of  the  city.  This  inspired  the  pris- 
oner to  write  his  celebrated  Enfer  (Hell) — a  virulent  satire 
aimed  against  the  administrators  of  the  law  and  a  work 
by  which  he  incurred  the  displeasure  of  Diane  de  Poitiers,2 
mistress  of  Francis  I,  whom  he  boldly  reproached  for  her 
unbelief. 

1  Not  translatable;  il  a  mange  le  lard  was  a  figurative  mode  of  speech  em- 
ployed to  express  in  general  "to  be  guilty."     The  phrase  Prenz-le,  il  a 
mange  le  lard,  Marot  uses  in  one  of  his  ballads.     Manger  du  lard  is  a  slang 
expression  meaning  "to  betray  one's  accomplices." 

2  Diana  of  Poitiers,  Duchess  of  Valentinois,  and  first  lady  of  honor  to 
Queen  Claude,  was  richly  endowed  by  nature  in  mind  and  in  body.     Her 
father,  Jean  de  Poitiers,  Count  of  St.  Vallier,  was  condemned  to  be  be- 
headed; but  Diana  threw  herself  at  the  feet  of  Francis  I,  and  by  her  tears 
and  her  charms  obtained  his  pardon.     But  her  father's  hair  grew  white  in 
a  single  night  in  the  prison  at  Loches,  and  fear  threw  him  into  a  violent 
fever  from  which  he  never  recovered.     Hence  the  expression  "fever  of  St. 
Vallier."     Diana  was  at  least  forty  years  old  when  King  Henry  II,  barely 
eighteen,  fell  desperately  in  love  with  her;  and  although  almost  sixty  years 

130 


SIXTEENTH-CENTURY   POETRY   AND    PROSE 

In  1534,  Marot  was  implicated  in  the  Affaire  des  placards, 
when  all  the  principal  streets  of  Paris  were  placarded  with 
printed  sheets  attacking  the  Roman  Catholic  Church  in  the 
most  offensive  terms.  Marot  was  obliged  to  leave  Paris,  and 
found  refuge  at  the  court  of  Margaret  of  Navarre  and,  dur- 
ing a  later  period,  at  the  court  of  Renee  de  France,  sister 
of  Louis  XI. 

In  1536  he  dedicated  to  Francis  I  his  translation  of  the 
first  thirty  Psalms.  The  dedication  ran : 

Mais  tout  ainsi  qu'avecques  diligence 
Sont  eclaircis  par  bons  esprits  rusez 
Les  escritaux  des  vieux  fragmens  usez, 
Ainsi,  6  roi,  par  les  divins  esprits 
Qui  ont  sous  toy  Hebrieu  langage  appris, 
Nous  sont  jettez  les  pseaumes  en  lumiere, 
Clairs,  et  au  sens  de  la  forme  premiere, 
Dont  apres  eux,  si  peu  que  faire  scay, 
T'en  ay  traduit,  par  maniere  d'escay 
Trente,  sans  plus,  en  ton  noble  langage, 
Te  suppliant  les  recevoir  pour  gage, 
Du  r6sidu  qui  ja  t'est  consacre, 
Si  les  voir  tous  il  te  venoit  a  gre. » 

old  at  the  death  of  the  king,  she  had  always  held  the  same  sway  over  his 
heart.  Her  charms  and  beauty  withstood  the  ravages  of  time;  every  man 
at  all  distinguished  in  letters  could  count  upon  her  protection.  The  reign 
of  Henry  II  was  that  of  Diana;  but  no  sooner  was  that  prince  in  extremis 
than  the  courtiers  who  had  so  long  worshiped  at  her  shrine  turned  their 
backs  upon  her.  Catherine  of  Medici,  wife  of  Henry  II,  sent  orders  to 
her  to  return  the  crown  jewels  and  to  retire  from  the  beautiful  castle  of 
Chenonceaux  to  one  of  the  less  sumptuous  castles.  She  died  at  the  age  of 
sixty-six,  beautiful  to  the  end.  She  is  the  only  royal  mistress  in  whose 
honor  medals  were  struck.  One  still  exists  on  which  she  is  represented 
trampling  Love  under  foot,  with  the  words  "Omnium  victorem  vici"  (I 
have  conquered  the  conqueror  of  all). 

1  But  just  as,  with  diligence,  the  writings  of  old  worn  fragments  have 
been  made  clear  by  cunning  minds;  and  just  as,  O  King,  the  Psalms  have 
been  put  in  a  clear  light  for  us,  and  with  their  original  meaning,  by  those 
inspired  minds  who  learned  the  Hebrew  tongue  under  you — of  which  writ- 
ings, after  them,  as  well  as  I  can,  I  have  translated,  as  a  sort  of  exper- 
iment, thirty — no  more — into  your  noble  tongue,  supplicating  you  to 
receive  them  as  a  pledge  of  the  remainder,  which  henceforth  are  consecra- 
ted to  you,  if  you  would  see  them  all. 

131 


THE    HISTORY   OF   FRENCH   LITERATURE 

Marot's  translation  was  received  at  the  court  with  enthusiasm. 
Francis  I  took  pleasure  in  humming  new  psalms.  ' '  With  this 
royal  example  before  them,  the  courtiers  and  the  ladies,  even 
the  least  virtuous,  began  to  learn  them  by  heart,  and,  before 
they  were  formally  set  to  music,  to  sing  them  to  the  tune  of 
current,  and  sometimes  the  most  profane  or  burlesque,  melo- 
dies. ' '  In  spite  of  royal  favor,  the  Sorbonne  continued  their 
persecutions,  and  finally  prohibited  the  sale  of  this  translation. 
Marot  sought  refuge  in  Geneva,  but  there,  too,  animosity  and 
intolerance  drove  him  away.  He  finally  found  protection  in 
Turin,  where  he  died  in  1544. 

His  psalms,  fifty  in  number,  were  published  in  1543,  with 
a  preface  by  Calvin.  They  were  set  to  music  by  Goudimel  and 
almost  all  of  them  were  introduced  into  the  song  books  of 
the  Calvinists.  Their  composition  is  like  that  of  Marot's 
songs  and  epitaphs,  strained  and  pedantic.  His  best  works 
are  his  epitres,  rondeaux,  and  ballades,  some  of  which  are 
marvels  of  grace  and  wit  and  rhythmic  harmonies.  The 
word  Marotisme,  indicative  of  Marot 's  style,  was  used  to  desig- 
nate a  genre  of  poetry,  of  facile  wit  and  melodious  rhyme, 
without  much  depth  or  passion.  This  style  with  its  archaic 
coloring,  placed  Marot  as  the  last  of  the  poets  of  the  Middle 
Ages,  and  a  modern  poetry,  artistic  and  erudite,  was  created 
by  the  Pleiade. 

The  impulse  to  this  new  school  of  poetry  was  given  by 
a  class  of  young  scholars,  nourished  under  the  strong  disci- 
pline of  classical  studies.  Their  master  was  Jean  Dorat  and 
one  of  their  number — Ronsard — became  the  chief  of  the  new 
school,  and  formed,  with  Joachim  du  Bellay,  Remi  Bellau, 
Jodelle,  Dorat,  Ba'if,  and  Pontus  de  Thiard,  the  French 
Pleiade.1  The  pupils  of  Dorat  "  having  drunk  at  their 
leisure  the  strong  wine  of  the  ancient  poets  "  learned  to 
admire  the  elevation  of  their  language  and  the  nobility  of 
their  ideas.  In  1549,  Du  Bellay  published  his  Defense  et 

1  Under  Henri  III.  There  was  another  French  Pleiade  under  Louis 
XIII,  composed  of  Rapin,  Commire1,  Larue,  Manage,  Santeul,  Duperrier, 
and  Petit.  The  name  Pleiade,  an  astral  term  taken  possession  of  by 
poetry,  was  given  to  seven  poets  who  lived  in  the  reign  of  Ptolemy  Phila- 
delphus:  Lycophron,  Theocritus,  Aratus,  Nicander,  Appolonius,  Homer, 
and  Callimachus. 

132 


SIXTEENTH-CENTURY   POETRY   AND   PROSE 

Illustration  de  la  Langue  Frangaise,  a  manifesto  of  the  new 
school  and  their  programme.  It  furnishes  the  historic  date  of 
that  literary  movement  which  was  prolonged  during  almost 
half  a  century,  with  Ronsard  as  its  chief.  The  intention  of 
Du  Bellay  was,  not  only  to  defend  the  common  language 
against  the  contempt  of  the  scholars,  but  to  show  that  it 
might  acquire  the  qualities  in  which  it  was  still  lacking,  and 
by  what  means  one  might  hope  to  elevate  it  to  the  level  of 
Greek  and  Latin.  He  wished  to  enrich  the  French  language 
by  imitating  the  ancient  Greek  and  Latin  writers,  and  taking 
freely  from  the  "  sacred  treasures  of  the  Delphic  temple." 
"  The  Romans,"  he  says,  "  imitated  the  best  Greek  authors 
— transforming  themselves  into  them,  devouring  them,  and, 
after  having  devoured  them,  changing  them  into  their  own 
blood  and  nourishment."  The  new  school,  then,  aban- 
doned rondeaux,  ballades,  and  virelais,  for  the  cultiva- 
tion of  the  new  genres  of  poetry:  odes,  elegies,  idylls,  and 
sonnets. 

Du  Bellay  (1525-60)  is  known  as  the  most  modern  of 
poets  of  the  sixteenth  century.  His  poems  show  grace,  emo- 
tion, and  creative  ability.  The  pastoral  poem  Vanneur  de 
Ble  aux  Vents  (Winnower  addressing  the  Winds)  is  quoted 
as  a  model  of  grace  and  poetic  ease: 

A  vous  troupe  leg&re, 
Qui  d'aile  passag£re 
Par  le  monde  volez, 
Et  d'un  sifflant  murmure 
L'ombrageuse  verdure 
Doucement  esbranlez : 

J'offre  ces  violettes 
Ces  lis  et  ces  fleurettes 
Et  ces  roses  icy; 
Ces  vermeillettes  roses 
Tout  freschement  escloses. 
Et  ces  ceillets  aussi. 

De  vostre  doulce  haleine 
Esventez  cette  plaine, 
Esventez  ce  sejour; 
133 


THE    HISTORY   OF    FRENCH   LITERATURE 

Ce  pendant  que  j'ahanne 
A  mon  ble  que  je  vanne 
A  la  chaleur  du  jour.1 

Pierre  de  Ronsard  was  born  in  1524  in  the  Castle  of  Pos- 
sonniere,  near  Vendome.  His  childhood  and  early  youth 
were  singularly  active.  Disgusted  with  school  at  nine  years 
of  age,  he  became  a  page  at  court,  and  passed  about  three 
years  in  Scotland,  in  the  service  of  King  James.  He  visited 
Flanders  and  Germany,  and,  at  the  age  of  nineteen  returned 
to  France,  where  a  brilliant  career  awaited  him.  But  he 
suddenly  lost  his  sense  of  hearing  which  compelled  him  to 
give  up  court  life  and  led  him  to  devote  himself  to  literature. 
Shipwrecks,  wars,  gallant  adventures,  knowledge  of  men  and 
languages — these  things  he  gained  on  his  travels,  and  turned 
them  to  account  as  a  poet.  Proclaimed  in  the  Jeux  Floraux,2 
"  prince  of  poets,"  Ronsard  also  became  the  poet  of  princes. 

1  To  you,  troop  so  fleet,  Lily  and  violet 

That  with  winged  wandering  feet         I  give,  and  blossoms  wet, 

Through  the  wide  world  pass  Roses  and  dew; 

And  with  soft  murmuring  This  branch  of  blushing  roses, 

Toss  the  green  shades  of  spring  Whose  fresh  bud  uncloses, 

In  woods  and  grass.  Wind-flowers,  too. 

Ah,  winnow  with  sweet  breath, 
Winnow  the  holt  and  heath, 

Round  this  retreat; 
Where  all  the  golden  morn 
We  fan  the  gold  o'  the  corn 
In  the  sun's  heat. 

— Translation  by  ANDREW  LANG. 

1  The  Floral  Plays  (Jeux  Floraux),  an  academy  of  Toulouse,  was 
founded  in  1323  by  seven  troubadours  of  Toulouse,  under  the  name  of 
Tres  gaie  Compagnie  des  sept  troubadours  de  Toulouse.  Every  year 
on  the  first  of  May  a  poetical  contest  takes  place  in  Toulouse,  and  this 
academy  distributes  prizes  for  the  best  poems:  the  first  prize  a  golden 
violet,  the  second  a  silver  eglantine,  and  the  third  a  marigold  in  metal, 
hence  the  name  Floral  Plays.  Cle'mence  Isaure,  born  in  Toulouse,  was 
noted  for  her  mental  gifts  and  for  her  patronage  of  young  poets.  She 
gave  this  institution  a  new  impetus  by  providing  an  annual  fund.  After 
her  death  her  statue  was  erected  at  the  city  hall  and  wreathed  with 
flowers  during  the  contests.  The  Jeux  Floraux  were  reorganized  at  the 
end  of  the  seventeenth  century,  and  raised  to  the  dignity  of  an  academy, 
after  which  only  French  aspirants  were  admitted.  It  was  suppressed  in 
1790,  but  reestablished  in  1806,  and  is  the  oldest  literary  society  in  Europe. 

134 


SIXTEENTH-CENTURY  POETRY   AND   PROSE 

Queen  Elizabeth  gave  him  a  diamond  of  great  value,  and 
Mary  Stuart  sent  him  a  rock  of  solid  silver,  with  the  inscrip- 
tion "  a  Ronsard,  1'Apollon  de  la  source  des  Muses."  She 
received  him  during  the  brief  reign  of  her  husband,  Francis 

II.  Four  kings,  Henri  II,  Francis  II,  Charles  IX,  and  Henri 

III,  showered  upon  him  favors  and  distinctions. 

Ronsard  was  the  founder  of  modern  French  poetry.  He 
introduced  for  the  first  time  the  idea  that  form  and  style 
were  necessary  in  the  composition  of  verses.  He  was,  above 
all,  an  admirable  artist,  and  the  aim  he  never  lost  sight  of  in 
his  poetry  and  which,  in  the  estimate  of  his  contemporaries 
he  achieved  so  well,  was  nobility,  earnestness,  and  splendor 
of  language.  A  large  vocabulary  did  not  exist  in  French, 
and  Ronsard  set  to  work  to  increase  it.  He  created  new  words 
and  rejuvenated  old  ones  (archaisms),  he  tried  to  form  a 
language  for  poetry — richer  and  more  elevated  than  that 
used  for  prose.  Some  critics  say  he  would  have  been  a  great 
poet,  if  not  epic  or  lyric,  at  any  rate  elegiac,  but  for  his  great 
fault — his  determination  to  suppress  his  personal  inventive 
power  under  a  balderdash  of  imitations.  He  encumbered  the 
French  language  with  Latin  and  Greek  expressions,  not  com- 
prehensible, as  he  himself  writes,  to  the  majority  of  the  people : 

Les  Frangais  qui  mes  vers  liront, 
S'ils  ne  sont  et  Grecs  et  Remains, 

En  lieu  de  ce  livre  ils  n'auront 

Qu'un  pesant  faix  entre  les  mains.1 

Nyrop  in  his  defense,  writes  that  Ronsard  did  not  borrow 
more  words  from  the  ancient  languages  than  any  of  the  other 
writers  of  his  time,  and  that  Boileau  was  in  error  when  he 
represented  Ronsard 's  muse  speaking  Greek  and  Latin;  he 
should  have  said,  continues  Nyrop,  "  that  his  muse  spoke 
French,  and  thought  in  Greek  and  Latin." 

Ronsard 's  attempt  to  write  an  epic  poem,  the  Franciade, 
was  a  failure.  He  used  an  improbable  legend  for  the  subject 

1  Frenchmen  who  will  my  verses  read, 
Unless  they  be  Greek  and  Roman  (scholars), 
Instead  of  this  book  will  have 
But  a  heavy  load  in  their  hands. 
135 


THE    HISTORY   OF   FRENCH   LITERATURE 

matter,  and  imitated  Virgil  and  Homer.  It  speaks  of  Francus, 
the  son  of  Hector,  who  escapes  from  the  fury  of  the  Greeks 
and  after  a  series  of  adventures  arrives  at  Crete.  The  two 
daughters  of  the  King  of  Crete  fall  in  love  with  him.  One 
of  them,  desperate  with  jealousy,  throws  herself  into  the  sea; 
the  other,  a  prophetess,  discloses  the  future  to  Francus,  in 
which  he  appears  as  the  ancestor  of  a  long  line  of  kings  in 
France,  from  the  legendary  Pharamond1  to  Charlemagne. 
The  poem  lacks  inspiration,  and  Ronsard,  who  intended  to 
write  twelve  cantos,  stopped  after  the  fourth.  Ronsard 's 
success  lay  in  his  odes,  sonnets,  and  hymns.  The  following 
graceful  "  Ode,"  addressed  to  Cassandra,  is  expressive  of  his 
lighter  manner: 

Mignonne,  aliens  voir  si  la  Rose, 
Qui  ce  matin  avait  desclose 

Sa  robe  de  pourpre  au  soleil, 
A  point  perdu  cette  vespree, 
Les  plis  de  sa  robe  pourpree, 

Et  son  teint  au  vostre  pareil. 

Las!  voyez  comme  en  peu  d'espace, 
Mignonne,  elle  a  dessus  la  place, 

Las,  las,  ses  beautez  laisse  cheoir! 
O  vraiment  maratre  Nature, 
Puisqu'une  telle  fleur  ne  dure 

Que  du  matin  jusques  au  soir. 

Done,  si  vous  me  croyez,  Mignonne, 
Tandis  que  votre  age  fleuronne 

En  sa  plus  verte  nouveaute', 
Cueillez,  cueillez  votre  jeunesse; 
Comme  a  cette  fleur,  la  viei  Hesse 

Fera  ternir  votre  beaute".2 

1  Frankish  chieftain  of  the  fifth  century  who,  according  to  legend,  was 
the  first  king  of  the  Merovingian  line;  at  all  events  the  first  Frankish 
king  whose  name — and  nothing  else — history  has  preserved. 
2  Come,  darling,  see  an'  if  the  rose, 
Which  did  to  the  sun's  dawn  disclose 

Its  purple  robe  all  freshly  blown, 
Has  not  at  hour  of  Vespers  lost 
Its  painted  dress,  its  beauty's  boast, 
And  its  complexion  like  your  own. 
136 


SIXTEENTL 

Ronsard,  the  : 
and  he  knew,  by 
over  prose  and  p 
either  adversari< 
"  lies  buried  unc 

"While  Ronsar 
portes  (1546-16(, 
generation  of  tht 
of  entirely  differ* 
The  one  revived 
frankness : 

Otez  vc 
Del'im 

Mathurin  Regnier's 
his  satires.    He  wrote . 

J'ai  ve 
Me  la' 

A 
F 


to  the  i 
of  me 


L^ERATURE 

xhibited  the  dis- 
..en,  in  1555,  and 
rg.  His  odes  to 
ier,  brought  him 
)de  to  Du  Perier, 
reads: 

Ue? 

;lles  choses 
roses: 

is,  but  as  the  initi- 

e  French  language. 

gical  legislator,"    he 

ame   the   "  regent   of 

,ion;  he  proscribed  the 

•iced  to  a  small  number 

By  the  clearness  of 

^m,  he  freed  poetry 

"»  Du  Bellay  and 

'Ie  condemned 

"ms.    He  dif- 

regulated 

•  of  style 

's  Gas- 

'  the 

are, 


rfect. 
of  its 


SIXTEENTH-CENTURY  POETRY   AND   PROSE 

and  literary  circles  of  Europe.  Malherbe  was  surnamed  the 
"tyrant1  of  words  and  syllables,"  and  established  those 
severe  precepts  to  which,  thereafter,  the  talented  French  poets 
subjected  their  powers. 

Malherbe,  if  severe  toward  others,  was  no  less  so  to  him- 
self. He  was  an  indefatigable  worker,  polishing  and  repolish- 
ing  his  phrases.  It  is  said,  that  on  one  occasion,  a  friend 
of  his  having  lost  his  wife,  Malherbe  wished  to  address  his 
consolations.  When  he  had  finally  finished  his  verses,  he 
found  his  friend  not  only  consoled,  but  remarried.  During 
twenty-five  of  his  busiest  years,  he  wrote  on  an  average,  thirty- 
three  verses  a  year.  "  When  one  asked  his  opinion,"  says 
Racan,  "  on  some  French  word,  he  would  generally  refer 
you  to  the  street  porters  of  the  Hay  Market,  saying  that  they 
were  his  authority  for  the  language."  By  this  he  meant 
that  the  language  of  the  people  was  never  influenced  by  for- 
eign forces,2  and  that  the  language  of  literature,  too,  should 
be  pure  and  simple ;  in  other  words,  French.3 

In  rendering  poetry  more  simple  and  rational,  Malherbe 
raised  its  standard  to  perfection,  but  he  thereby  rendered 
it  more  difficult,  and,  for  over  a  century  after  him,  there  was 
no  lyric  poet  of  France.  An  epigram  on  Malherbe,  composed 
by  his  friend  Maynard,  reads : 

La  favour  des  princes  est  morte ; 

Malherbe,  en  notre  £ge  brutal, 
Pegase  est  un  cheval  qui  porte 

Les  poetes  a  1'hopitaL* 

"  Grammarian-poet,"  says  Sainte-Beuve,  "  his  object 
above  all  was,  like  a  clever  artist,  to  restore  and  to  string  the 
instrument  from  which  Corneille  and  Racine  would  draw 
sublime  and  melodious  chords."  Malherbe  died  in  1628. 

1  It  is  said  that  on  his  death  bed,  Malherbe  upbraided  his  nurse  for 
using  a  word  incorrectly. 

3  The  court  had  been  by  turns  Spanish,  Italian,  and  Gascon. 
1  Ce  qui  n'est  pas  clair,  n'est  pas  frangais.     (Rivarol.) 
•  The  favor  of  princes  is  dead; 
Malherbe,  in  our  brutal  age, 
Pegasus  is  a  horse  which  bears 
Poets  to  the  almshouse. 
139 


THE    HISTORY   OF   FRENCH   LITERATURE 

Du  Bellay  in  his  Defense  already  quoted,  advised  the 
coming  writers  to  restore  comedies  and  tragedies  to  their 
ancient  glory.  To  Estienne  Jodelle  (1532-73),  was  assigned 
the  role  of  dramatist  of  the  Pleiade,  and  he  introduced 
tragedy  into  the  national  literature,  when,  at  the  age  of 
twenty,  he  wrote  Cleopatra  Captive,  in  imitation  of  Seneca. 
The  Italian  tragedies,  Rucella'is's  Rosmonda,  and  Trissino's 
Sofonisba,  had  been  translated  into  French,  but  Jodelle 's 
tragedy  is  important  in  the  history  of  French  literature 
as  the  first  regular  French  tragedy.  His  work  is  faulty,  the 
plan  very  simple,  the  language  negligent,  and  the  speeches 
interminable;  but  it  has  the  merit  of  being  the  first  attempt 
to  offer  a  higher  form  of  amusement  than  the  mysteries  and 
farces. 

People  awakened  to  the  new  erudition,  introduced  by  the 
humanists,  felt  the  want  of  intellectual  entertainment.  To 
see  before  them  a  living  representation  of  the  characters  of 
antiquity — the  subjects  of  their  diligent  studies — aroused  in 
the  savants  unbounded  enthusiasm.  They  themselves  under- 
took to  play  the  various  parts.1  The  first  representation  took 
place  at  the  Hotel  de  Reims,  in  1552,  then  at  the  College  of 
Boncour,  before  Henry  II  and  his  court.  According  to 
Brantome,  the  king  presented  Jodelle  with  five  hundred 
ecus  and  his  gracious  favor.  Shortly  after,  Jodelle  produced 
another  tragedy,  Didon  se  sacrifiant. 

The  impulse  to  tragedy  having  been  given,  there  was  soon 
a  whole  school  of  dramatic  authors  following  in  the  footsteps 
of  Jodelle.  Jean  de  la  Taille  wrote  Saul  le  Furieux,  and  La 
Famine  ou  les  Gdbaonites  (1571) ;  Antoine  de  Montchretien 
(1575-1621)  wrote  Sophonisbe,  David,  I'Ecossaise,  and  Robert 
Gamier  (1535-1601),  who  showed  in  his  tragedies  more  eleva- 
tion, harmony,  and  purity  of  language  than  his  contemporaries, 
produced  among  other  pieces,  Les  Juives2  his  masterpiece. 

1  Jodelle  as  Cleopatra;  Ronsard,  Baif,  La  Peruse,  etc.,  taking  other 
parts. 

2  Funeral  Chorus  of  Les  Juives: 

Comment  veut-on  que  maintenant 

Si  devotees, 
Nous  allions  la  flute  entonnant 

Dans  ces  vallees? 
140 


SIXTEENTH-CENTURY   POETRY   AND   PROSE 

All  tragedies,  however,  were  almost  entirely  based  on  an 
imitation  of  Seneca,  and  only  written  for  court  and  college 
amusement,  until  about  1600,  when  Alexandre  Hardy  intro- 
duced them  to  the  public.  Alexandre  Hardy  (about  1570- 
1631),  was  an  actor,  and  the  dramatist  of  a  company  of  play- 
ers under  Valleran  Lecomte,  in  the  Hotel  de  Bourgogne. 
Although  a  mediocre  writer,  he  helped  to  fix  the  form  of 
classic  tragedy,  he  created  the  plot,  and  strengthened  the 
unity  of  action.  Compelled  to  work  very  rapidly  to  supply 
the  requisite  number  of  plays,  he  was  often  obliged  to  fur- 
nish one  at  a  day's  notice,  and  once  wrote  a  five-act  tragedy 
in  five  days.  The  popularity  of  his  plays  was  increased  by 
the  variety  of  sources — Greek,  Latin,  Italian,  and  Spanish 
literature — from  which  he  took  his  material.  He  wrote  about 
seven  hundred  plays,  tragedies,  tragi-comedies,  pastorals,  etc., 
which  appealed  to  both  the  court  circles  and  the  people.  Of 
these  numerous  plays,  he  published  only  forty,  the  best  of 
which  is  Marianne. 

With  Hardy,  the  modern  theater  found  its  impulse,  and 
dominated  the  stage  for  thirty  years,  but  the  definite  forma- 
tion of  tragedy  dates  from  Corneille. 

True  French  comedy  also  dates  from  the  sixteenth  cen- 
tury. Jodelle,  Ronsard,  Bai'f,  translated  the  comedies  of 
antiquity,  while  Jean  de  la  Taille,  Odet  de  Turnebe,  Godard 
and  many  others  imitated  the  Italian  comedies.  Among  the 
latter  writers,  the  greatest  was  Larivey,1  an  Italian,  Pierre 
Giunto,  who  settled  in  France  under  the  name  of  Pierre  de 

Que  le  luth  touch6  de  nos  doigts 

Et  la  cithare, 
Fassent  r^sonner  de  leurs  voix, 

Un  ciel  barbare? 

Que  la  harpe  de  qui  le  son 

Toujours  lamente, 
Assemble  avec  notre  chanson 

Sa  voix  dolente? 

How  it  is  to  be  expected  that  we,  so  desolate,  should  go  forth  into  the 
vales  with  sounding  flute? — that  lute  and  zither,  touched  by  our  hands, 
should  echo  in  a  barbarous  clime? — that  the  sound  of  the  ever-lamenting 
harp  should  mingle  with  the  doleful  voice  of  our  song? 

1  Larivey  (arrive),  French  translation  of  Giunto. 

141 


THE    HISTORY   OF   FRENCH   LITERATURE 

1'Arivey.  His  comedies  are  characterized  by  fine  observation, 
originality,  and  force;  and  written  in  prose,  an  innovation  at 
that  time,  they  form  an  epoch  in  the  history  of  the  French 
theater.  Les  Esprits,  his  best  comedy,  furnished  the  material 
for  several  scenes  of  Moliere's  L'Etourdi. 

Comedy  altogether  dominated  by  the  Corn-media  deU'Arte 
brought  by  the  Italians  from  across  the  Alps,  became  erudite 
and  artificial,  and  it  remained  with  the  grand  Corneille  to 
regulate  comedy  as  well  as  to  create  true  tragedy. 

SATIRE  MENIPPEE 

Satire  has  always  been  cultivated  in  France  where  it  is 
in  harmony  with  the  racial  characteristics.  During  the  Mid- 
dle Ages,  it  played  a  continuous  role — in  fables,  farces, 
moralities,  soties,  etc.  Rabelais  used  it,  and  Du  Bellay  and 
Ronsard  advocated  its  cultivation,  and  finally,  satire  became 
embodied  in  some  important  works  of  the  sixteenth  century : 
Discours  sur  les  miseres  de  ce  temps  of  Ronsard,  the  famous 
Satires  of  Regnier,  the  Tragiques  of  d'Aubigne,  and  the 
political  pamphlet — the  Satire  Menippee.  During  the  seven- 
teenth century,  satire  reached  its  culmination  in  Boileau's 
Art  Poetique  and  in  some  of  his  Satires. 

The  Satire  Menippee  is  the  most  famous  of  that  species 
of  literature — the  pamphlet — which  the  political  chaos  of  the 
sixteenth  century  brought  forth.  It  took  its  name  from  the 
Satira  Menippea  of  the  Roman 1  satirist  Varro,  who  imitated 
Menippos,  the  pupil  of  Diogenes.  The  pamphlet  was  the  work 
of  a  circle  of  friends :  Leroy,  a  chaplain  of  the  Connetable  de 
Bourbon;  Passerat,  Durand,  poets;  Gillot,  Pithou,  Rapin, 
and  Chrestien,  lawyers  and  professors. 

These  men  were  no  Huguenots,  but  peaceful  Catholics, 
who  feared  evil  results  for  their  country  from  the  doings  of 
the  League,2  and  the  prolongation  of  the  civil  wars,  which 
might  finally  deliver  France  into  Spanish  hands. 

1  The  Romans  have  claimed  the  invention  of  this  genre:  Satira  quidem 
tola  nostra  est.     (Quintilian.) 

2  The  League  was  a  confederation  of  the  Catholic  party,  founded  by 
the  Duke  of  Guise  in  1576,  with  the  apparent  purpose  of  defending  the 
Catholic  religion  against  the  Calvinists,  but  in  reality  to  overthrow  Henry 

142 


SIXTEENTH-CENTURY   POETRY  AND   PROSE 

The  Satire  Menippee *  was  a  sort  of  farce  divided  into 
two  parts:  La  Vertu  du  Catholicon,  and  Les  Affaires  des 
Etats — Oeneraux.  The  Preface  introduces  two  charlatans, 
who  sell  the  Catholicon,  a  marvelous  drug,  which  has  the 
effect  of  permitting  one  to  be  a  traitor  and  an  assassin  in 
the  name  of  the  Holy  Church.  This  was  symbolical  of  the 
religious  zeal  alleged  by  the  Leaguers  as  an  excuse  to  fight 
against  the  king — a  false  zeal,  intended  to  conceal  their  revo- 
lutionary spirit.  "  Then  comes  a  description  (in  which,  as 
throughout  the  work,  actual  facts  are  blended  inextricably 
with  satirical  comment)  of  the  procession  of  opening.  To 
this  succeeds  a  sketch  of  tapestries  with  which  the  hall  of 
meeting  was  hung,  all  of  which  are,  of  course,  allegorical,  and 
deal  with  murders  of  princes,  betrayal  of  native  countries  to 
foreigners,  etc.  Then  comes  '  L'Ordre  tenu  pour  les  Se- 
ances, '  in  which  the  chief  personages  on  the  side  of  the  League 
are  enumerated  in  a  long  catalogue,  every  item  of  which 
contains  some  bitter  allusion  to  the  private  or  public  conduct 
of  the  person  named.  Seven  solemn  speeches  are  then  delivered 
by  the  Duke  de  Mayenne  as  head  of  the  League,  by  the  legate, 
by  the  Cardinal  de  Pelleve,  by  the  Bishop  of  Lyons,  by  Rose, 
the  fanatical  rector  of  the  University,  by  the  Sieur  de  Rieux, 
as  representative  of  the  nobility,  and,  lastly,  by  a  certain  Mon- 
sieur d'Aubray  for  the  Tiers-^ltat.  A  burlesque  coda  con- 
cludes the  volume,  the  joints  of  which  are :  first,  a  short  verse 
satire  on  Pelleve;  secondly,  a  collection  of  epigrams;  and, 
thirdly,  Durant's  Regret  Funebre  a  Mademoiselle  ma  Corn- 
mere  sur  le  Trepas  de  son  Ane,  a  delightful  satire  on  the 
Leaguers,  which  did  not  appear  in  the  first  edition,  but  which 
yields  to  few  things  in  the  book."  2 

The  clever  composition,  the  striking  satire  and  wit  dis- 
played and  its  great  purpose — to  show  that  religion  should  not 
be  made  to  serve  politics — endeared  it  to  all  hearts.  It  was 

III  and  to  place  the  Guises,  chiefs  of  the  League,  on  the  French  throne. 
Henry  IV  understood  that  by  abjuring  Calvinism  he  would  put  an  end  to 
the  League.  "Paris  is  indeed  worth  a  mass,"  said  Henry  in  embracing 
Catholicism  and  restoring  peace  to  France. 

1  The  full  title  is  De  la  Vertu  du  Catholicon  d'Espagne  et  de  la  Tenue  des 
Etats  de  Paris. 

3  From  Saintsbury's  French  Literature. 

143 


THE    HISTORY   OF    FRENCH   LITERATURE 

not  a  book  composed  as  a  whole,  but  a  veritable  journal, 
published  successively  in  detached  leaves,  and  then  combined 
as  a  collection.  A  nineteenth-century  echo  of  this  great  satir- 
ical pamphlet,  was  the  Minerve  Frangaise  of  the  Restoration, 
a  semiperiodical,  issued  irregularly  (1818-20)  at  a  time  when 
some  subterfuge  was  necessary  to  evade  a  ruthless  censorship. 

MEMOIRES 

France  is  considered  the  fatherland  of  the  genre  of  litera- 
ture, known  as  Memoires.  Chateaubriand  attributes  the  su- 
periority of  the  French  nation  to  produce  the  best  Memoires, 
to  the  inclination  of  the  French  people  to  narrate,  to  their 
sociability,  and  to  the  vanity  of  their  humor.  Joinville  and 
Froissart  have  written  nothing  else;  under  Louis  XI  and 
Charles  VIII,  Commines  excelled  in  that  genre.  Under 
Francis  I,  the  Marshal  de  Fleuranges  set  down  the  recital  of 
his  campaign  with  a  simple  vivacity.  Montaigne's  Essais 
are  classed  among  the  great  Memoires.  Jean  Martin  and 
Guillaume  Du  Bellay  have  written  their  Memoires  in  a  simple, 
curious  style.  But,  of  the  greatest  importance,  are  perhaps 
the  Memoires  of  the  sixteenth  century,  which  relate  to  the 
immediate  religious  and  political  strifes  of  that  period — when 
France  was  alive  with  armed  bands,  when  religious  wars 
racked  the  country,  and  men  killed  each  other  with  bestial 
rage.  During  this  time,  many  men  yielded  to  the  impulse  to 
write  what  they  had  observed,  and  if  their  works  were  badly 
written  they  had  the  great  merit  of  sensible  and  vigorous 
simplicity  and  animated  expression,  which  brought  the  events 
clearly  before  one.  Among  this  group  of  warrior  writers 
was  the  old  general  d  'Estrees,  who  told  in  a  few  pages  of  the 
forty  fortresses  he  had  taken,  and  ' '  whose  great  frame, ' ' 
says  Brantome,  "  one  saw  mounted  on  a  big  charger  holding 
himself  erect  at  the  trenches,  which  he  overtowered  by  half 
his  body,  and  remaining  there,  with  head  uplifted  in  the  midst 
of  bullets,  as  if  he  were  on  a  hunt. ' ' 

Blaise  de  Lasseran-Massencome,  Seigneur  de  Montluc  (1502- 
77) ,  was  a  captain  of  warlike  ferocity,  who  turned  his  declin- 
ing days  to  account  and  wrote  his  exploits  for  the  instruction 
of  his  children  and  the  young  nobility  of  France.  His  Com- 

144 


SIXTEENTH-CENTURY   POETRY   AND   PROSE 

mentaires,  valuable  for  the  history  of  his  epoch,  were  written 
with  the  fiery  ' '  eloquence  of  the  brigand, ' '  and  he  seemed  to 
glory  in  the  bloodshed  of  the  numerous  civil  wars  he  lived 
through.  He,  however,  writes :  "I  have  all  my  life  hated 
writing,  and  would  pass  a  whole  night  with  my  armor  on 
my  back  in  preference  to  writing." 

Francois  de  La  Noue,  called  Bras  de  fer  (Iron  Arm) ,  (1531- 
91),  was  a  French  captain,  representative  of  the  severe  Prot- 
estant type.  King  Henry  IV  said  of  him,  "  He  is  a  great 
warrior,  but  a  still  greater  man  of  honor."  In  his  captivity, 
La  Noue  wrote  his  Discours  politiques  et  militaires,  which 
Henry  IV  called  the  soldier's  Bible.  It  is  a  precious  literary 
work,  full  of  the  knowledge  of  the  times  and  discloses  the 
writer's  honesty  and  purity  of  intention. 

Guillaume  de  Tavannes  (1509-73),  one  of  those  great 
Catholic  lords  leagued  together  to  defend  their  faith,  left 
Memoires  valuable  to  history,  but  characterized  by  an  auda- 
cious use  of  bad  language.  His  brother,  Jean  de  Tavannes, 
also  a  writer,  but  a  Protestant  and  faithful  servant  of  Henry 
IV,  found  himself  many  times  on  the  same  battle-field  with 
his  brother  in  opposite  camps. 

To  these  might  be  added  a  long  list  of  interesting  Me- 
moires, such  as  the  Historia  sui  temporis  written  in  Latin  by 
the  Protestant  de  Thou;  the  Memories  nostrce  libri  VI,  of 
Paradin ;  the  Memoires  of  the  Due  de  Sully,  one  of  France 's 
greatest  ministers,  published  under  the  title  of  Sages  et  royales 
economies  d'Etat;  of  Marshal  de  Villeroi;  and  the  Memoires 
of  Nicolas  de  Catinat,  Marshal  of  France,  whose  simplicity, 
fine  moral  character,  and  the  great  solicitude  he  showed  for 
the  welfare  of  his  soldiers,  earned  for  him  the  cognomen  of 
Pere  la  Pensee  (Father  Thoughtful).  This  great  soldier,  who 
sold  his  estates  to  equip  the  army  of  the  king,  said:  "As  long 
as  a  drop  of  blood  and  an  inch  of  land  remain  to  me,  I  will 
employ  them  in  the  service  of  the  country  in  which  God 
allowed  me  to  be  born. ' ' 

Two  men  of  great  diversity  of  character,  manners,  and 
opinion  were  among  the  famous  Memoire  writers  of  the  six- 
teenth century.  One,  Pierre  de  Bourdeilles,  Seigneur  de 
Brantome  (1540-1614),  better  known  as  the  abbot  of  Bran- 
tome,  whose  writings  are  characterized  by  a  frivolity  border- 
11  145 


THE    HISTORY   OF   FRENCH   LITERATURE 

ing  on  obscenity.  His  Memoires,  writes  a  French  critic,  are 
a  continuous  and  servile  echo  of  all  the  rumors  of  the  court 
and  the  city  which — from  Francis  I  to  Henry  IV — struck  the 
ear  of  a  curious  and  talkative  courtier.  No  writer  was  ever 
more  completely  devoid  of  moral  sentiment.  He  repeats  every- 
thing without  thinking  of  anything;  a  true  parrot  of  the 
court,  the  more  interesting  as  he  is  less  profound.  For  he 
tries  to  veil  nothing,  and  so  the  whole  century  is  reflected  in 
the  impudent  frankness  of  his  work.  The  mobility  of  his 
mind  puts  him  in  sympathy  with  the  events  which  he  relates ; 
one  sees  him  moved  by  Mary  Stuart's  misfortunes,  struck  by 
the  austerity  of  old  Montmorency,1  astonished  at  the  Roman 
grandeur  of  L 'Hospital,  charmed  with  the  heroism  of  Bayard. 
Though  his  style  is  neither  brilliant  nor  precise,  he  grows 
animated  in  the  recital  of  battles  and  debauches;  he  repro- 
duces very  well  the  gossip  of  the  courtiers  and  the  women, 
and  records  with  ample  truth  those  varied  impressions  which, 
by  turns,  control  him,  without  even  inspiring  him  with  respect 
for  virtue  or  hatred  for  vice. 

Brantome's  Memoires  include:  Vies  des  hommes  illustres 
et  grands  capitaines  frangais  et  Strangers;  Vies  des  dames 
illustres;  Vies  des  dames  galantes  (a  collection  of  obscene 
anecdotes)  ;  Anecdotes  de  la  cour  de  France  touchant  les  duels; 
Rodomontades  et  jurements  des  Espagnols;  etc.  All  these 
captains  and  illustrious  ladies  with  whom  Brantome  had  lived 
on  a  familiar  footing,  are  depicted  by  him  with  a  piquant 
naivete  and  give  a  true  and  characteristic  picture  of  the  times. 

The  other  man  was  a  Gascon  gentleman,  caustic  and  boast- 
ful, audacious  in  love  and  war — Theodore  Agrippa  d'Aubigne2 
(1550-1630),  Calvinistic  captain,  historian,  and  litterateur. 
It  is  said  that  at  the  age  of  eight  years,  when  passing  in  the 
public  square  of  Amboise  before  a  number  of  gibbets,  from 
which  were  suspended  the  heads  of  some  of  his  coreligionists, 
he  pledged  his  life  to  the  Protestant  cause.  His  entire  writ- 
ings show  a  passionate  party  feeling  and  a  profound  sorrow 
for  the  condition  of  his  country ;  they  display  force  and  wit, 

1  Wounded  to  death  in  a  battle,  this  famous  Conne"table  de  France  said 
to  his  confessor:  "Do  you  think  that  I  have  lived  for  eighty  years  with 
honor,  not  to  know  how  to  die  in  a  quarter  of  an  hour?  " 

*  He  was  the  grandfather  of  Madame  de  Maintenon. 

146 


SIXTEENTH-CENTURY   POETRY   AND   PROSE 

an  ardent  mind,  and  a  bold  valor.  Whatever  there  was  of 
ardor,  of  impetuosity,  of  giddiness,  of  originality,  says  a  fa- 
mous French  critic,  in  that  Gascon  and  Protestant  youth  that 
pressed  around  Henry  IV,  is  found  again  in  d'Aubigne.  At 
the  age  of  ten  he  made  his  first  expedition  in  his  shirt. 
Guizot  tells  us  that  a  kinsman  of  pacific  temperament  locked 
up  young  d'Aubigne  to  quell  his  martial  humor.  Every 
evening  his  garments  were  taken  away  and  brought  back  in 
the  morning.  He  could  escape  from  his  prison  only  through 
the  window.  But,  "  What  youth  wants,  God  wants  ";  the 
linen  of  his  bed  served  him  as  a  ladder ;  then  he  was  free,  but 
without  clothing  other  than  his  shirt.  In  this  attire  he 
reached,  at  night,  a  company  of  Huguenot  cavaliers.  They 
covered  his  nakedness,  the  captain  took  him  on  his  horse,  and 
thus  he  entered  on  his  campaign.  At  one  time  he  danced  the 
gaillarde  x  before  the  Grand  Inquisitor  ready  to  condemn  him 
to  death,  escaped  through  a  window,  and,  fleeing  to  the  do- 
mains of  Renee  de  France,  hastened  to  seat  himself  at  the  feet 
of  the  princess,  where,  on  a  silken  cushion,  he  improvised,  still 
out  of  breath,  and  soiled  with  dust,  a  sermon  on  contempt  of 
death,  after  the  Bible  and  Seneca. 

He  was  a  very  energetic  prose  writer,  and  evolved  such 
audacious  opinions  in  his  Histoire  universelle  depuis  1555 
jusqu'en  1601,  that  he  was  obliged  to  take  refuge  in  Geneva 
after  its  publication.  Here  he  was  occupied  in  repairing 
the  fortifications  of  the  city  from  the  material  of  a  church 
which  had  been  in  ruins  for  forty  years.  His  enemies  con- 
sidered this  sufficient  cause  for  his  arrest  and  condemnation 
to  death.  It  was  the  fourth  time  that  the  death  sentence  hung 
over  d'Aubigne,  but  he  was  so  little  concerned  about  it  that 
he  married  shortly  after. 

D'Aubigne  wrote  two  spirited  pamphlets:  La  Confession 
du  sieur  de  Sancy,  who  changed  his  faith  several  times,  and 
Le  Divorce  satyrique  de  la  reine  Marguerite.  He  was  one 
of  the  most  vigorous  satirists  and  poets  of  his  times.  Les 
Aventures  du  Baron  Foeneste  is  one  of  the  most  ingenuous 

1  A  bold  dance  which  originated  in  Italy  and  was  brought  to  France, 
where  it  became  the  vogue  in  the  sixteenth  century.  The  composer, 
Prsetorius,  called  it  an  "invention  of  the  devil,  full  of  shameful  and 
obscene  gestures  and  of  immodest  movements." 

147 


THE    HISTORY    OF    FRENCH   LITERATURE 

satires  of  customs  and  manners.  The  story  is  in  the  form 
of  a  dialogue  between  two  men.  One,  the  Baron  de  Foeneste 
(from  the  Greek  <f>alvea-0ai,  to  appear),  is  a  Gascon  gentleman, 
a  Papist,  ridiculously  attired  with  jacket  of  many  colors  and 
flowing  trousers  of  taffeta.  He  relates  with  bragging  fatuity 
and  comical  vanity  to  his  friend,  Enay  (from  the  Greek  elvcu, 
to  be),  a  Huguenot,  his  adventures  at  court.  Enay  is  a  man 
of  sedate  qualities,  wise  and  virtuous,  who  has  the  good  sense 
to  remain  peacefully  on  his  estates.  In  this  book,  d'Aubigne 
intermingles  violent  attacks  with  caustic  humor  against  all  the 
follies  of  his  time,  particularly  against  the  great  failing  of 
the  century— that  of  false  appearance. 

The  great  satirical  poem  of  d'Aubigne,  Les  Tragiques, 
discloses  a  grewsome  picture  of  the  horrors  of  the  religious 
wars.  Pathos,  force,  audacity,  and  outbursts  of  passionate 
hatred  characterize  the  work.  It  is  a  picture  in  seven  books, 
of  the  misfortunes  of  France  and  the  persecution  of  the  Prot- 
estants. The  first  book,  entitled  Miseres,  is  a  general  picture ; 
the  second,  Les  Princes,  is  a  furious  satire  on  the  court  of 
Henry  III;  the  third  book,  La  Chambre  Doree  (The  Golden 
Chamber),  is  a  diatribe  against  magistracy;  the  fourth,  Les 
Feux  (Fire),  and  the  fifth,  Les  Fers  (Irons),  are  the  recitals 
of  different  death  penalties  meted  out  to  Protestants;  the 
sixth  is  Vengeance,  and  the  seventh,  Jugement.  Les  Tra- 
giques is  a  great  lyric  poem,  but  written  without  art. 

In  contradistinction  as  to  sex,  but  equal  as  to  ability,  a 
woman  stands  among  these  warrior  writers  who  added  fame 
to  the  sixteenth  century — Marguerite  de  Valois  (1492-1549), 
called  "  la  Marguerite  des  Marguerites  "  (the  pearl  of  pearls). 
She  was  the  sister  of  Francis  I,  the  wife  of  the  Due  d  'Alengon, 
and  for  many  years  as  the  wife  of  Henri  d  'Albret,  the  Queen 
of  Navarre.  A  spirited  woman  of  brilliant  education,  of  high 
intellect,  scrupulous  morality,  and  eager  sympathies,  she  en- 
couraged the  arts,  protected  scholars,  and  had  a  marked  influ- 
ence upon  the  Renaissance  movement  in  France.  She  wrote 
with  facility  in  verse  and  in  prose,  which  merited  for  her  the 
title  of  "  the  tenth  Muse."  She  is  especially  famous  as  the 
author  of  the  Heptameron,  a  collection  of  seventy -two  stories 
after  the  manner  and  plan  of  Boccaccio's  Decameron.  They 
are  narrated  with  much  cleverness,  but  some  of  them  are  too 

148 


SIXTEENTH-CENTURY   POETRY   AND    PROSE 

licentious  for  modern  taste;  for  taste  varies  with  the  epoch 
we  live  in. 

The  sixteenth  century  is  also  famed  for  its  humane  activ- 
ity. It  is  in  this  century  that  St.  Vincent  de  Paul  established 
the  first  home  for  foundlings.  A  provision  was  made  by  him 
for  the  foundlings,  by  which  he  secured  through  a  brief,  but 
effective  appeal,  forty  thousand  livres  for  the  purpose.  The 
Sisters  of  St.  Vincent  de  Paul,  formerly  called  Daughters  of 
Charity,  were  first  united  to  care  for  these  poor  abandoned 
children  whom  Vincent  de  Paul  rescued  from  starvation  or 
ill-treatment.1  Vincent  de  Paul  founded  the  Priesthood  of 
the  Mission,  called,  later  on,  Lazarists.  He  also  founded 
a  large  number  of  hospitals,  and  ended  his  holy  career  at  the 
age  of  eighty-five.  He  was  canonized  by  Clement  XII. 

1  In  Victor  Hugo's  L'Homme  qui  Rit  (The  Man  Who  Laughs)  there  is  a 
chapter  on  the  Comprachicos  —  monsters  in  men's  form  who  kidnaped 
deserted  children,  cut  their  muscles  and  otherwise  mutilated  them,  and 
then  sold  them  to  the  lords  whom  their  deformities  would  amuse.  The 
existence  of  the  Comprachicos  is  disputed. 


CHAPTER   XI 

THE   SEVENTEENTH   CENTURY 

THE  seventeenth  century,  commonly  called  le  Siecle  de 
Louis  XIV,  begins  with  the  stormy  minority  of  that  king 
under  the  regency  of  Anne  of  Austria,  the  queen  mother. 
In  this  period  occurred  the  civil  wars,  undertaken  by  the 
great  lords,  to  restore  their  expiring  power,  the  Cabale  des 
Importants  (Plot  of  the  Importants)  and  the  mad  doings  of 
the  Fronde. 

The  Plot  of  the  Importants  with  the  Dukes  de  Beaufort 
and  de  Guise  as  leaders,  whose  object  it  was  to  frustrate  the 
power  of  Mazarin,  ended  with  Beaufort's  imprisonment  at 
Vincennes.  The  wars  of  the  Fronde  were  also  directed  against 
Mazarin.  They  were  parliamentary  and  artistocratic  insurrec- 
tions against  the  policy  of  Anne  of  Austria  and  Mazarin, 
and  were  divided  into  two  periods.  The  first  or  Parliamen- 
tary Fronde  lasted  from  August,  1648,  to  March,  1649.  The 
second  or  Fronde  of  the  Princes  (the  party  of  the  Condes) 
lasted  from  October,  1649,  to  September,  1653.  When  Ma- 
zarin wished  to  impose  a  tax,  the  burden  of  which  would  be 
borne  by  the  poor  alone,  the  magistrates  were  filled  with  pity, 
and  when  the  edict  was  presented  for  registration,  they  re- 
jected it.  A  special  court  of  justice  was  thereupon  convened, 
and  Louis  XIV,  at  the  age  of  seven,  was  conducted  to  Parlia- 
ment, where  the  tax  was  registered.  Mazarin  caused  some 
magistrates  to  be  imprisoned,  and  the  people  of  Paris  revolted 
against  the  king's  troops.  On  one  side  was  the  Regent  Anne 
of  Austria,  and  Mazarin;  on  the  other,  the  enemies  of  the 
court.  There  was  fighting  of  a  morning  and  dancing  at  night. 
For  symbols,  the  frondeurs  wore  straw  bouquets  on  their  hats. 
They  satirized  the  power  of  Mazarin  by  songs  and  couplets; 

150 


THE  SEVENTEENTH  CENTURY 

but  he  only  said  in  his  Italian  French :  S  'ils  cantent  la  can- 
zonetta,  ils  pagaront."  ("If  they  sing  their  little  song  they 
will  pay.")  The  most  popular  of  those  Mazarinades,  as  the 
satirical  rhymed  pamphlets  were  called,  is  the  one  by 
Scarron : 

Un  vent  de  fronde 

A  souffle  ce  matin; 
Je  crois  qu'il  gronde 
Centre  le  Mazarin.1 

A  price  was  placed  on  the  head  of  Mazarin,  and  he  was  forced 
into  exile,  but  soon  restored.  The  name  Fronde,  sarcastically 
given,  was  first  applied  to  the  malcontents,  it  is  said,  by  a 
magistrate  of  the  Parliament,  who  compared  their  resistance 
to  that  of  the  street  urchins  who  defied  each  other  with  slings 
(frondes)  in  the  moats  around  Paris,  and  often  turned 
against  the  archers  sent  to  arrest  them. 

This  period  was  but  the  continuation  of  the  stormy  times 
of  the  sixteenth  century.  "  One  sees,"  says  a  French  critic, 
' '  the  same  disorder  in  the  customs  of  the  times,  the  same  un- 
intelligent imitation  of  the  antiquity  of  Italy  and  Spain; 
hence  in  literature  the  same  license  of  expression,  the  same 
pedantry,  the  same  effects,  the  same  Italian  plays  on  words,  and 
the  same  Spanish  magniloquence  which  are  the  characteris- 
tics of  the  preceding  century.  Only  during  the  second  half 
of  the  seventeenth  century,  beginning  with  the  actual  reign 
of  Louis  XIV,  did  French  genius — enlightened  by  the  torch 
of  spiritual  philosophy,  of  religion,  of  antiquity  well  under- 
stood, and  encouraged  by  the  munificence  of  the  great  king — 
begin  to  display  all  its  qualities,  and  the  French  language  to 
acquire  that  degree  of  maturity  and  perfection  beyond  which, 
perhaps,  it  may  change,  but  not  improve.  Louis  XIII  was  a 
weak,  timid  prince,  indifferent  to  letters.  Under  his  reign 
the  Court  exercised  no  influence  upon  society  or  upon  litera- 
ture. However,  men's  minds  having  become  more  enlight- 
ened, there  was  a  tendency  toward  gentler  and  more  elegant 
manners.  Societies  were  formed  in  Paris  for  the  betterment 

1  A  "Fronde"  wind  blew  this  morning;  I  believe  it  is  roaring  against 
Mazarin. 

151 


THE    HISTORY    OF    FRENCH    LITERATURE 

of  social  behavior,  to  purify  the  relations  between  men  and 
women,  and  to  make  the  language  more  decent,  more  reserved, 
more  regular." 

The  most  celebrated  of  these  societies  is  that  which  assem- 
bled at  the  Hotel  de  Rambouillet,  the  first  and  the  most  illus- 
trious of  the  literary  salons.  It  had  existed  since  1610,  but 
the  period  from  1624-1648  marked  the  time  of  its  glory  and  its 
influence.  It  was,  so  to  speak,  directed  successively  by  three 
women  of  distinguished  minds  and  charming  grace :  the> 
Marchioness  of  Rambouillet;  her  daughter,  Julie  d'Angennes, 
later  Duchess  of  Montausier;  and  her  younger  daughter, 
Angelique  de  Rambouillet,  who  was,  later,  the  first  wife  of 
the  Marquis  de  Grignan.  The  Marquis  of  Rambouillet,  grand- 
master of  the  royal  wardrobe,  had  married  Catherine  de  Vi- 
vonne,  in  whom  were  united  loveliness  of  figure  with  a  scrupu- 
lous virtue,  a  cultured  mind,  a  pure  taste,  and  a  great  pas- 
sion for  letters. 

The  entire  Hotel  de  Rambouillet  was  reconstructed  ac- 
cording to  the  plans  of  the  Marquise,  who  also  introduced 
an  innovation  as  to  the  artistic  decoration  of  the  rooms.  One 
of  these,  the  Chambre  bleue  (blue  room)  so  called  because 
the  walls,  hangings,  and  furniture  were  of  blue  velvet,  has 
become  famous  as  the  rendezvous  of  brilliant  men  and  beauti- 
ful women.  This  room  has  been  the  subject  of  poems  by 
Voiture,  Tallemant  des  Reaux,  and  Chapelain  who  called  it 
the  Logo  de  Zyrphee. 

Madame  de  Rambouillet  assembled  at  her  house  a  choice 
society  free  from  the  license  that  prevailed  in  the  morals 
and  the  language  of  the  times.  The  men  were  called  Pre- 
cieux  and  the  women  Precieuses,  and  this  name  was  pleasing, 
since  it  was  bestowed  upon  women  of  irreproachable  conduct 
and  a  taste  for  spiritual  things,  who  prided  themselves  on  the 
delicacy  and  elegance  of  their  sentiments,  their  manners,  and 
their  language.  The  name  of  Catherine,  the  Marquise  de 
Rambouillet,  seemed  unpoetic,  so  Malherbe  made  it  into  an 
anagram:  Arthenice.  The  beautiful  Arthenice,  the  "  incom- 
parable "  as  she  was  also  called,  although  susceptible  to  the 
cold,  could  not  endure  fire  because  it  burned  her  skin ;  so  she 
received  her  guests  in  an  unheated  chamber.  The  guests 
ranged  themselves  in  the  ruelle,  the  space  between  the  wall 

152 


THE    SEVENTEENTH    CENTURY 

and  the  bed,1  on  which  the  marquise  sat  wrapped  in  furs. 
Hence  came  the  expression,  coureur  de  ruelles.2 

Here  were  united  the  beaux-esprits  of  the  times  to  dis- 
cuss intellectual  questions  and  to  cultivate  the  belles-lettres. 
Words  were  examined  from  all  sides  with  minute  care,  and 
were  admitted  or  rejected  by  a  majority  of  votes.  The  gram- 
marian, Vaugelas,  was  the  president  of  this  singular  academy 
and  his  opinion  regarding  the  fate  of  words  had  great  weight. 
The  reform  begun  by  Malherbe  in  the  French  language, 
was  continued  by  the  Precieuses,  and  the  transformation  which 
was  consummated  in  the  literature  during  the  first  thirty  years 
of  the  century  is  due  to  them.  The  poets  of  the  hour  read 
their  latest  madrigals.  Comedies  and  tragedies  were  played, 
the  Marquise  herself  taking  part.  Brilliant  minds  exchanged 
ideas  and  discussed  questions  on  philosophy,  literature,  and 
grammar. 

The  reign  of  the  Precieuses,  which  had  dominated  the  liter- 
ary world  for  so  many  years,  had  been  prepared  by  the  rococo 
style  of  the  idealistic  novels  originating  in  Italy  and  in  Spain. 
In  Italy,  with  Marini  's  Les  Querelles  des  desesperes,  and  San- 
nazzaro's  Arcadia;  in  Spain,  with  Gongora's  cultism  and 
Montemayor's  novel  Diana  enamorada.  These  were  imitated 
in  France  by  Honore  d'Urfe  in  his  novel  L'Astree. 

In  d  'Urf e  's  novel,  the  principal  characters  were  shepherds 
who  spun  out  their  love  stories.  One  saw  through  trans- 
parent pseudonyms  Henri  IV,  Marguerite  de  Valois,  his 
first  wife;  and  Gabrielle  d'Estrees,  whose  sudden  death  by 
poison  only  prevented  her  from  becoming  his  second  wife,  and 
various  other  personages.  There  are  some  interesting  passages 
in  the  long  recitals,  but  for  the  most  part  there  are  intermi- 
nable dissertations  on  the  different  degrees  of  love.  It  is  the 
same  style  of  discussion  which  formed  the  theme  of  conversa- 
tion among  the  Precieuses.  Of  these  there  were  three  cen- 

1  In  the  sixteenth  and  seventeenth  centuries  many  people  of  high  rank 
received  guests  before  rising. 

2  Formerly  this  expression  meant  one  who  frequented  assiduously  the 
society  of  the  great  ladies.     It  is  equivalent  to  the  term  now  in  use,  coureur 
de  salons.     Style  de  ruelle  meant  style  prccieux.    A  coureur  de  ruelles  now 
means  one  who  frequents  resorts  of  low  debauchery  (usually  in  the  ruelles — 
lanes  or  alleys). 

153 


THE    HISTORY   OF    FRENCH   LITERATURE 

ters  in  the  seventeenth  century :  the  Hotel  de  Rambouillet,  the 
palace  of  Mademoiselle  de  Montpensier,  and  the  house  of  Made- 
moiselle de  Scudery.  There  the  Precieuses  composed  little 
verses  and  madrigals,  and  above  all,  heroic  novels.  Mademoi- 
selle de  Scudery  wrote  Clelie  (histoire  romaine)  a  tiresome 
novel,  in  which  she  depicts  under  a  Roman  guise,  the  Precieuse 
coterie.  With  ridiculous  sentimentalism  and  fastidious  lucu- 
brations, she  describes  the  map  of  the  Pays  de  Tendre 
(Country  of  Love),  whose  capital  is  Tendre  sur  Inclination 
(Love  on  the  River  of  Inclination).  The  various  degrees  of 
love  are  described  as  towns,  rivers,  and  mountains.  The  great 
Conde,  the  Duchess  of  Longueville,  the  Archduke  Leopold  of 
Austria,  the  Marquise  de  Rambouillet,  and  other  celebrities 
of  the  day,  are  easily  recognized  under  thinly  disguised  char- 
acters in  the  novel.  This  idealistic  style  which  was  in  vogue 
in  all  the  cultivated  societies  of  Europe,  was  called  Marinism 
(after  Marini)  in  Italy,  Gongorism  (after  Gongora)  in  Spain, 
euphuism  in  England  (after  Lyly's  Euphues),  and  precieux 
in  France.  The  Precieuses  contributed  much  to  establishing 
that  art  of  conversation  which  is  one  of  the  glories  of  France.1 
But — as  too  often  happens — the  goal  in  view  was  overleaped. 
By  dint  of  purifying  the  sentiments,  of  "  giving  the  mind 
control  over  matter,"  they  often  sacrificed  good  sense,  and  in 
their  super-refinement  of  the  sentiments,  in  their  search  for 
the  finest,  they  ruined  the  delicacy  of  wit  and  sentiment.  The 
language  became  pretentious  and  abounded  with  far-fetched 
and  affected  metaphors.  The  most  elevated  as  well  as  the 
most  simple  things  lost  their  names,  and  a  direct  and  simple 
manner  of  speech  became  entirely  out  of  fashion.  Under 
pretext  of  banishing  vulgar  words  and  employing  only  beauti- 
ful language,  all  that  is  natural  and  simple  was  treated  as 
base  and  ignoble.  Innocent  expressions  were  proscribed,  and 
the  language  was  in  a  fair  way  to  become  a  ridiculous  and 
unintelligent  jargon.  When  the  Precieuses  would  speak  of 
servants,  they  referred  to  them  as  the  "  faithful,"  or  the 

1  For  centuries  the  French  have  laid  stress  on  the  art  of  conversing  and 
have  perfected  it  to  such  an  extent  that  they  can  discuss  the  most  delicate 
subjects  in  such  a  manner  as  not  to  shock  the  sensibilities.  This  is  the 
triumph  of  the  art  of  conversation  over  the  coarseness  of  realities  and  even 
of  thought. 

154 


THE  SEVENTEENTH  CENTURY 

"  necessaiy  ";  they  went  to  meet  you  "  with  the  wings  of 
impatience  ";  the  nightcap  became  the  "  innocent  accomplice 
of  a  lie  ";  the  eyes  were  the  "  mirrors  of  the  soul,"  or  the 
"  paradise  of  the  soul  ";  the  ears  were  the  "  doors  of  the 
understanding  ' ' ;  gray  hairs  were  ' '  quittances  d  'amour  ' ' 
(acquittances  of  love)  ;  trees  were  "  rustic  ornaments  ";  the 
sun  was  the  ' '  torch  of  the  day  ' ' ;  the  feet  were  the  ' '  poor 
sufferers  " ;  a  glass  of  water,  a  ' '  bath  for  the  interior  " ;  a 
broom,  the  "  instrument  of  cleanliness  ";  the  chemise,  the 
' '  constant  companion  of  the  dead  and  the  living  ' ' ;  and  war, 
the  "  mother  of  disorder."  Instead  of  saying  sit  down,  the 
affected  term  "  satisfy  the  longing  of  this  chair  to  embrace 
you  "  was  used.  Instead  of  telling  the  servant  to  extinguish 
the  candle,  they  would  say  ' '  take  away  the  superfluity  of  that 
light."  Many  of  these  expressions  found  a  permanent  place 
in  the  French  language;  such  as,  "  feliciter  "  (to  felicitate) ; 
"  le  masque  de  la  vertu  "  (the  mask  of  virtue)  for  hypocrisy; 
"  perdre  son  serieux  (to  loose  one's  seriousness)  for  to  laugh; 
and,  strange  as  it  may  seem,  the  word  "  s 'encanailler  "  (to 
keep  low  company). 

This  manner  of  speech  was  taken  up  by  the  clumsy  imita- 
tors of  the  Precieuses  of  the  Hotel  de  Rambouillet  who 
abounded  in  Paris,  and  had  spread  to  the  provinces,  when 
Moliere  began  an  active  crusade  against  them  in  his  immortal 
satire  Les  Precieuses  Ridicules.  It  was  his  first  effective 
blow  and  was  continued  in  Les  Femmes  Savantes.  The  great- 
est names  of  all  nobility  and  of  literature  were  among  the 
Precieux  and  Precieuses  of  the  Hotel  de  Rambouillet,  but  Mo- 
liere inspired  by  the  "  demon  of  comedy,"  fearlessly  assailed 
them  with  that  recklessness  characteristic  of  genius.  Neither 
did  Moliere  timidly  try  his  play  on  the  provinces,  but  pro- 
duced it  boldh  in  the  Petit-Bourbon  Theater  in  1659  and 
achieved  a  glorious  victory.  The  members  of  the  Hotel  de 
Rambouillet  Tvere  present  at  the  first  performance,  and  were 
clever  enough  not  to  recognize  themselves,  and  to  applaud. 
Angelique  de  Rambouillet,  who  presided,  was  a  partisan  of 
Moliere. 

Among  the  illustrious  women  who  shone  in  the  salon 
of  the  Marquise  de  Rambouillet  were  the  Marquise  de  Se- 
vigne,  Duchesse  de  Longueville,  Marquise  de  Lafayette,  Mar- 

155 


THE    HISTORY   OF    FRENCH   LITERATURE 

quise  de  Sable,  Mademoiselle  Paulet,  and  others.  Madeleine 
Paulet,  on  account  of  her  golden  hair  called  the  Lionne  rousse, 
counted  among  her  mourants x  the  dukes  of  Guise  and  of 
Bellegarde  as  well  as  marquises  and  marshals.  The  great 
lords  who  frequented  the  Chambre  bleue  of  Arthenice  were 
the  Prince  de  Conde,  the  most  famous  of  that  illustrious  line 
of  princes;  the  Marquis  de  Sable,  the  Due  de  La  Roche- 
foucauld, the  Marquis  de  Vigean  and  the  Due  de  Montausier, 
who  after  "  sighing  "  for  fourteen  years  for  Julie,  the  fair 
daughter  of  the  house,  was  finally  rewarded  for  his  devotion. 
Julie  was  not  so  much  the  child  of  her  parents  as  the  child 
of  the  Hotel  de  Rambouillet.  When  her  father  spoke  of 
giving  her  in  marriage,  there  was  a  general  outcry :  the  Hotel 
without  Julie  was  inconceivable.  The  Duke  presented  Julie 
for  a  New  Year's  gift  (1641)  with  a  collection  of  sixty -three 
madrigals  composed  by  the  beaux-esprits  of  the  day.  It  was 
called  the  Guirlande  de  Julie  (Julie's  garland),  and  was  in 
the  form  of  a  manuscript  on  vellum  in  folio,  of  twenty-nine 
leaflets.  Each  one  was  ornamented  with  a  flower  painted  by 
the  famous  artist  Robert,  and  under  each  flower  was  written 
by  the  calligraphist  Jarry,  one  of  several  madrigals.  The 
Duke  himself  composed  sixteen  and  even  the  great  Corneille 
contributed  verses  on  the  tulip,  the  orange  blossom,  and  the 
white  everlasting.  This  valuable  garland  now  in  the  possession 
of  the  Due  d'Uzes,  was  once  the  property  of  England,  ac- 
quired at  a  cost  of  thirty  thousand  francs. 

The  distinguished  Vincent  Voiture  (3598-1648),  the  son 
of  a  wine  merchant  of  Amiens,  was  one  of  the  most  brilliant 
minds  of  the  celebrated  society.  With  Vo.'ture  gallantry  en- 
tered poetry.  His  Lettres,  full  of  elegant  gossip  and  a  spir- 
ited joyousness,  qualities  for  which  he  was  unsurpassed  as  a 
conversationalist,  had  a  prodigious  success.  \ 

Benserade  (1613-1691),  the  favorite  poet  af  the  grandes 
dames,  was  also  a  dramatic  author.  His  chief  claim  to  fame 
rests  in  having  provoked  the  celebrated  battle  of  sonnets  which 
lasted  about  a  year  and  a  half.  In  opposition  to  Benserade 's 
sonnet  on  Job,  Voiture  wrote  his  sonnet  to  Urania,  and  there 

1 1.  e.,  suitors  ready  to  die  for  their  ladylove.     (Expression  us^d  by  the 
Pr6cieuses  for  amoureux.) 

156 


THE    SEVENTEENTH    CENTURY 

ensued  a  literary  battle.  The  court  and  the  city  took  part  with 
great  zest ;  hence  the  names  Uranistes  and  Jobelins,  indicative 
of  the  partisans  of  the  two  poets.  Many  writings  in  verse  and 
prose  also  appeared  under  these  names.  ' '  The  factions  of  the 
Guelfs  and  Ghibellines,  of  the  white  rose  of  Lancaster  and 
the  red  rose  of  York,  caused  no  more  blood  to  flow  than  this 
literary  civil  war  of  the  Uranistes  and  Jobelins,  caused  ink 
to  flow."  The  French  Academy  and  the  Sorbonne  declined 
to  arbitrate,  so  the  committee  of  awards  of  the  University  of 
Caen  decided  in  favor  of  Voiture.  Corneille  entered  into 
the  debate,  saying  that  one  of  the  sonnets  was  the  most  in- 
genious, but  he  would  have  wished  to  have  written  the  other. 

Jean-Louis  Guez  de  Balzac  (1594-1654),  a  disciple  of  Mal- 
herbe,  effected  for  prose  the  reform  which  his  master  had 
brought  about  in  poetry;  he  gave  it  nobility,  harmony,  and 
order.  Balzac 's  Lettres,  published  in  1624,  were  a  prodigious 
success  in  all  Europe  and  gained  for  him  the  title  of  ' '  grand 
epistolier  de  France." 

Claude  Favre  de  Vaugelas  (1585-1660),  the  oracle  of  the 
Precieuses,  labored  for  thirty  years  on  a  free  translation, 
purely  written,  of  the  work  of  Quintus  Curtius.  His  work 
Remarques  sur  la  Langue  Fran$aise,  is  considered  excellent. 

Racan  (1589-1670),  who  in  spite  of  his  shyness  and  awk- 
ward absence  of  mind,  fell  in  love  many  times,  was  inspired 
to  write  a  pastoral  of  three  thousand  verses. 

The  poet  Chapelain  (1595-1674),  after  twenty  years  of 
work,  published  the  first  twelve  cantos  of  his  La  Pucelle  (The 
Maid  of  Orleans).  These  the  Duchess  of  Longueville  pro- 
nounced ' '  very  fine  but  very  tedious, ' '  and  so  Chapelain  did 
not  dare  to  have  the  rest  of  his  epic  printed ;  it  remained  in 
manuscript  in  the  files  of  the  Bibliotheque  Nationale.1 

Gombauld  was  the  author  of  Endymion.  Owing  to  his  tall 
figure  and  curt  speech,  he  was  surnamed  le  beau  tenebreux.2 

Oliver  Patru,  academician  and  lawyer,  was  called  the 
"  French  Quintilian."  He  excelled  by  virtue  of  a  correct- 

1  Founded  in  the  fourteenth  century  at  the  palace  of  the  kings,  it  was 
the  first  library  accessible  to  the  public,  one  hundred  years  before  Nicholas 
founded  the  library  of  the  Vatican. 

2  A  name  assumed  by  Amadis  de  Gaule.     The  expression  has  passed 
into  the  language  and  applies  to  a  taciturn  and  melancholy  lover. 

157 


THE    HISTORY   OF    FRENCH   LITERATURE 

ness,  a  refinement,  a  good  taste,  and  an  elegance  unknown  at 
that  time  to  the  bar.  He  was  the  arbiter  of  the  art  of  speak- 
ing well,  and  his  inaugural  discourse  before  the  Academy  was 
so  esteemed  that  a  similar  one  was  exacted  from  that  time  on, 
of  all  the  members  newly  admitted.  His  works  were  published 
several  times  during  his  lifetime 

Godeau,  prelate  litterateur,  was  called  the  "  dwarf  "  of 
Julie,  because  of  his  small  stature  and  his  assiduities  to  the 
fair  Julie.  These  men  with  Cospian,  the  eloquent  preacher, 
and  his  pupils,  Richelieu  and  Bossuet,  who  made  his  debut 
as  preacher  in  the  famous  Chambre  bleue,  were  all  frequenters 
of  the  Hotel  de  Rambouillet.  All  these  writers  constituting 
the  salon  of  the  Hotel  de  Rambouillet  and  the  numerous  other 
salons  l  which  sprang  up  in  emulation  of  the  Rambouillet, 
were  artists  in  the  matter  of  language.  They  were  solely  oc- 
cupied in  polishing  the  verbal  instrument;  they  wrote  only 
to  make  fine  sentences.  But  if  they  produced  nothing  power- 
ful and  profound  in  this  reform,  they  rendered  great  services 
by  purifying  and  disciplining  the  language  and  fixing  the 
rules  of  syntax.  They  gave  the  language  a  number  of  words 
which  have  endured;  they  held  up  to  honor  all  beautiful 
sentiments  expressed  in  books  or  in  the  intercourse  of  life, 
and  contributed  toward  elevating  the  morals  and  refining  the 
manners.  Therefore  the  famous  reunions  of  the  Chambre 
bleue  of  the  Marquise  de  Rambouillet  are  considered  one  of 
the  epochs  in  the  history  of  French  literature.2 

In  direct  contrast  to,  but  actuated  by  the  same  impulses 
which  produced  the  sentimentalism  of  the  Precieuses  were  the 
burlesque  writers.  Both  were  extreme  forms  resulting  from 
Italian  and  Spanish  influences  brought  to  bear  upon  French 
literature.  Sarazin,  the  "  Hamilcar  "  of  the  Precieuses,  is 
said  to  have  written  the  first  French  burlesque  verses,  but  he 
and  his  many  imitators  were  surpassed  by  Scarron  who  was 

1  The  salons  of  Mesdames  de  Choisy,  de  Fiesque,  de  Sully,  de  Rohan- 
Chabot,  and  Mademoiselle  de  Scudery,  whose  Saturdays  became  very  cele- 
brated.   Even  journals  were  written  for  these  assemblies  in  the  ruelles, 
as  the  Gazette  de  Soret  written  for  the  ruelles  of  Madame  de  Longueville. 

2  Not  an  unmixed   blessing,  however,  for  in  bowing  to  the  dictum  of 
the  beau  monde  the  writer,  now   and    then,  had  to  sacrifice  depth  and 
loftiness  of  thought  to  perfection  of  style. 

158 


THE    SEVENTEENTH   CENTURY 

the  first  to  undertake  a  large  burlesque  work.  Paul  Scarron 
(1610-1660),  whom  a  cruel  practical  joke  confined  for  the 
rest  of  his  life  to  an  invalid's  chair,  brought  burlesque  into 
great  vogue  for  ten  years.  The  loss  of  his  health  was  followed 
by  that  of  his  fortune;  nevertheless,  he  offered  shelter  to 
Frangoise  d'Aubigne  (later  Madame  de  Maintenon,  second 
wife  of  Louis  XIV),  who  was  early  orphaned  and  without 
sustenance.  He  offered  to  pay  her  dot,  if  she  wished  to  be- 
come a  nun,  or  to  marry  her,  if  she  preferred  that.  She  was 
then  sixteen,  and  became  a  widow  at  twenty-five.  On  his 
death-bed,  he  addressed  these  words  to  his  wife :  ' '  I  leave  you 
without  worldly  possessions,  virtue  does  not  bestow  any ;  how- 
ever, always  be  virtuous. ' '  It  was  then  that  Madame  Scarron 
became  governess  for  the  children  of  Madame  de  Montespan, 
the  mistress  of  Louis  XIV,  and  later  when  de  Montespan  fell 
into  disfavor,  the  wife  of  Louis  XIV  without  the  title  of 
queen.  Of  the  peculiar  union  of  Scarron  and  Frangoise 
d'Aubigne  Jules  Lemaitre  writes:  "An  abbot  disguised  as 
an  Indian  during  the  carnival  was  forced  to  take  a  nocturnal 
bath,  became  a  cripple,  and  was  confined  by  paralysis  to  his 
chair  for  twenty-two  years.  During  this  time  he  never  slept 
an  entire  night,  nor  did  he  ever  stop  groaning  in  his  pain 
except  to  burst  into  laughter.  This  man  was  the  founder  of 
burlesque  poetry  and  had  the  reputation  of  being  the  gayest 
of  men.  In  his  day  his  popularity  was  more  real  than  that 
of  Corneille  or  Victor  Hugo,  his  fame  more  prodigious.  But 
this  is  insignificant.  At  the  same  time  there  was  a  little  girl 
who,  born  in  prison  and  raised  in  Martinique,  returned  to 
France,  watched  over  the  turkeys  of  a  wicked  and  avaricious 
relative,  and  experienced  poverty  and  hunger — and  who  be- 
came the  wife  of  the  greatest  king  in  the  world.  Surely  these 
two  destinies  taken  individually  would  be  very  strange !  But 
what  of  their  being  united?  There  is  something  more  extra- 
ordinary than  the  personality  of  Searron  and  the  fortunes  of 
Frangoise  d'Aubigne,  and  that  is  the  marriage  of  the  cripple 
and  the  "  belle  Indienne,"  future  mistress  of  France.  This 
produced  in  their  lives  the  most  violent  antithesis,  something 
as  hyperbolically  contrasted  as  one  of  Victor  Hugo 's  dramatic 
conceptions. ' ' 

Scarron  laid  the  foundation  of  the  burlesque  school  with  his 

159 


THE    HISTORY   OF    FRENCH   LITERATURE 

epic,  Typlion,  ou  la  Gigantomachie,  in  which  Typhon  rolls 
tenpins  with  his  friends,  and  when  he  is  hit  with  a  ball, 
throws  it  into  Olympus,  whereupon  war  ensues  between  the 
gods  and  the  Titans,  in  which  the  latter  are  defeated.  Scarron 
was  the  creator  of  French  travesty.  His  Virgile  Travesti  is  a 
travesty  of  Vergil's  "  JEneid."  His  most  famous  work  is 
the  Roman  Comique,  in  which  he  describes  the  lives  and  ad- 
ventures of  a  wandering  theatrical  troupe  in  a  refreshingly 
natural  and  interesting  manner.  Of  this,  similarities  can  be 
found  in  Goethe's  Wilhelm  Meister  and  Gautier's  novel,  Le 
Capitaine  Fracasse.  Moliere,  who  was  a  zealous  reader  of 
Scarron,  borrowed  several  of  his  scenes  for  various  plays  of 
his  own;  Sedaine  took  from  him  the  idea  of  La  Gageure 
Imprevue  (The  Unlooked  for  Wager).  Scarron 's  La  Maza- 
rinade,  a  bitter  satire  against  Cardinal  Mazarin,  cost  him  his 
pension  as  Malade  de  la  Reine; x  but  his  style  of  writing  was 
very  much  in  vogue,  and  his  comedies,  the  best  of  which  is 
Jodelet,  ou  le  Maitre  Valet,  yielded  him  an  income.  Scarron 
is  known  to  posterity  as  the  creator  of  the  burlesque  genre. 
He  himself  composed  a  burlesque  testament,  and  a  touching 
epitaph  which  has  remained  famous : 

Celui  qui  cy  maintenant  dort 

Fit  plus  de  piti6  que  d'envie, 
Et  souffrit  mille  fois  la  mort 

Avant  que  de  perdre  la  vie. 

Passant,  ne  f  ais  ici  de  bruit, 

Garde  bien  que  tu  ne  1'e"  veilles : 
Car  voici  la  premiere  nuit 

Que  le  pauvre  Scarron  sommeille.* 

1  Madame  de  Hautefort  obtained  for  Scarron  an  audience  with  the 
Queen,  Anne  of  Austria,  who  granted  him  a  pension  of  five  hundred 
feus,  for  which  he  jestingly  took  the  title  of  "  Scarron,   par  la  grace  de 
Dieu,  malade  indigne  de  la  Reine"  (Scarron,  by  the  grace  of  God,   un- 
worthy patient  of  the  Queen).     Queen  Christine  of  Sweden  said  to  him: 
"The  Queen  of  France  has  created  you  her  malade,  I  make   you  my 
Roland." 

2  He  who  now  sleeps  here  inspired  pity  rather  than  envy,  and  suffered 
death  a  thousand  times  before  he  lost  his  life.     Passer-by,  be  very  careful 
not  to  wake  him,  for  this  is  the  first  night  that  poor  Scarron  slumbers. 

160 


THE    SEVENTEENTH   CENTURY 

Of  all  the  burlesque  poets,  Scarron  alone  has  survived, 
and  this  genre  in  which  he  excelled  disappeared  with  him. 
Charles  Coupeau  d'Assouci,  a  burlesque  poet  coming  after 
Scarron,  and  who  gave  himself  the  title  of  ' '  Emperor  of  Bur- 
lesque, first  of  the  name,"  is  only  remembered  by  Boileau's 
verses : 

Le  plus  mauvais  plaisant  cut  des  approbateurs, 
Et  jusqu'  a  d'Assouci,  tout  trouva  des  lecteurs.1 

Savinien  de  Cyrano  de  Bergerac  (1619-1655)  was  a  fore- 
runner of  the  Encyclopedists  of  the  eighteenth  century.  His 
works  bizarre,  but  interesting,  had  the  characteristics  of  the 
burlesque,  the  precieux  and  the  libertin.2  His  two  best  works 
are  the  satirical  and  fantastic  descriptions  of  voyages:  "  His- 
toire  comique^des  Etats  et  Empire  de  la  Lune,  and  Histoire 
comique  des  Etats  et  Empire  du  Soleil,  in  which  he  describes 
his  trips  to  the  moon3  and  sun,  satirises  society,  criticises 
current  opinions  and  puts  forth  scientific  questions.  Swift 
in  Gulliver's  Travels,  Voltaire  in  Micromegas,  and  Fontenelle 
in  Entretiens  sur  la  pluralite  des  mondes  have  imitated  de 
Bergerac.  Jules  Verne  described  a  trip  to  the  moon  two 
hundred  years  .after.  From  Bergerac 's  Pedant  joue,  into 
which  he  introduced  a  peasant  speaking  his  dialect,  Moliere 
took  two  scenes  for  his  Fourberies  de  Scapin.  The  character 
Se  janus  in  Bergerac 's  tragedy,  la  Mort  d'Agrippine,  voices  the 

1  The  worst  buffoon  had  approvers  and  even  d'Assouci  found  readers. 

2  Libertin  in  the  sixteenth  century  in  France  was  one  who  professed 
liberty,  in  matters  religous;  and  the  libertins  were  a  class  of  people  who 
opposed  the  theocratic  system  of  Calvin  in  Geneva  and  his  regulation  of 
their  private  life.    In  the  seventeenth  century  libertin  also  expressed  a 
tendency  of  the  mind  and  not  of  manners.     The  greatest  libertins  of  that 
century  were  the  poet  The"ophile  de  Viau,  the  writers  Saint-Evremond, 
Chapelle,  and  Fontenelle,  who  formed  a  transition  between  the   great 
skeptics  of  the  sixteenth  century,  Montaigne,  etc.,  and  those  free-thinkers, 
the  philosophers  of  the  eighteenth  century. 

3  Bergerac  is  supposed  to  have  found  inspiration  for  his  Voyage  a  la 
lune  in  Francis  Godwin's  The  Man  in  the  Moon,  translated  from  the  Eng- 
lish and  published  in  Paris  in  1648.     However,  the  original  manuscript  of 
Bergerac 's  Voyage  a  la  lune  recently  discovered  in  the  Royal  Library  at 
Munich,  shows  the  dates  1641-1643  (the  manuscript  in  the  National 
Library  at  Paris  gives  the  date  1649-1650). 

12  161 


THE    HISTORY   OF    FRENCH   LITERATURE 

sentiments  of  the  libertins  of  the  day.  Cyrano  de  Bergerac 
has  lately  made  his  bow  before  the  public  again  as  the  hero 
of  Rostand's  drama. 

Antoine  Furetiere  (1.619-1688)  in  his  Roman  Bourgeois. 
attacked  the  sentimental  writings  then  in  vogue,  and  showed 
the  courage  of  his  convictions  by  ridiculing  the  sentimentali- 
ties and  affectations  of  society,  and  by  portraying  life  among 
the  middle  classes  —  a  thing  unheard  of  ;  in  fact,  it  was  consid- 
ered an  audacity  to  write  a  story  in  which  princes  and  prin- 
cesses, shepherds  and  shepherdesses  did  not  play  the  leading 
parts.  Furetiere  also  compiled  a  dictionary  of  some  import- 
ance ;  this  the  French  Academy  considered  an  infringement  for 
which  it  excluded  Furetiere  from  its  number. 

Marc  Antoine  Gerard,  Sieur  de  Saint-  Amant  (1594r-1661) 
was  the  most  celebrated  and  curious  of  the  bacchanalian  poets 
of  France  in  the  seventeenth  century.  In  his  poems  Albion, 
and  Rome  ridicule,  he  is  burlesque.  In  Les  Goinfres  (  The 
Gluttons),  Le  Melon,  etc.,  he  is  a  "veritable  genius,  the  poetic 
drinker,  the  chief  and  Anacreon  of  gluttons  and  haunters  of 
cabarets,  who  swear  only  by  the  cup.  '  '  By  turns  fantastic  and 
realistic  Saint-  Amant  was  famous  for  his  rustic  and  home-life 
descriptions. 

Bernade  de  La  Monnoye  was  gifted  with  satirical  humor 
together  with  a  taste  for  the  beautiful  and  the  curious  in  lit- 
erature. When  the  Abbe  de  La  Riviere,  Bishop  of  Langres 
died,  he  left  one  hundred  ecus  to  the  poet  who  would  write 
his  epitaph.  La  Monnoye  undertook  it  : 

Ci-git  un  tres  grand  personnage, 

Qui  fut  d'un  illustre  lignage, 

Qui  posse'da  mille  vertus, 

Qui  ne  trompa  jamais  et  qui  fut  tou  jours  sage,  .  .  . 

Je  n'en  dirai  pas  da  vantage  : 

C'est  trop  mentir  pour  cent 


1  Here  lies  a  very  great  personage, 
Who  was  of  illustrious  lineage, 
Who  possessed  a  thousand  virtues, 
Who  never  deceived  and  always  was  wise,  .  .  . 
I  will  say  no  more; 

For  one  hundred  crowns  these  are  too  many  lies. 
162 


THE  SEVENTEENTH  CENTURY 

Valentin  Conrart,  a  literary  man  and  a  frequenter  of  the 
Hotel  de  Rambouillet,  and  of  the  "  Saturdays  "  of  Mademoi- 
selle de  Scudery,  established  a  literary  salon  of  his  own, 
comprising  about  eight  men  of  letters  who  met  once  a  week 
at  his  house.  They  talked  literature,  they  discussed  their  own 
works  and  projects,  and  enlightened  one  another  with  their 
counsels.  This  is  the  origin  of  the  famous  Academic  Fran- 
caise;  and  these  modest  litterateurs — Conrart,  Godeau,  Gom- 
bault,  Habert,  Malleville,  Chapelain,  Desmarets,  Serizay — 
were  the  first  members  of  that  remarkable  institution.  Riche- 
lieu informed  of  these  reunions,  offered  to  organize  this  soci- 
ety as  a  public  body  under  the  protection  of  the  king  (1635) 
in  emulation  of  the  Crusca  in  Florence.  Richelieu's  proposi- 
tion was  accepted,  and  the  French  Academy  was  formally  con- 
stituted in  1637  by  letters  patent  of  King  Louis  XIII.  The 
name  Academy  comes  from  Academe,  the  land  belonging  to 
Academos,  a  mythical  Greek  hero  of  the  Trojan  War.  This 
land  near  Athens,  planted  with  trees  and  surrounded  by 
walls,  was  used  as  a  gymnasium  where  Plato  taught  philosophy 
to  his  disciples.  Up  to  1635  the  number  of  members  of  the 
French  Academy  had  not  yet  reached  thirty,  but  in  1637  the 
number  was  increased  to  forty,  which  was  never  exceeded. 

Under  the  pretext  of  honoring  the  society,  of  elevat- 
ing the  character  of  the  man  of  letters,  and  giving  him  more 
importance  in  the  state,  there  were  admitted  some  personages 
more  eminent  by  their  birth  or  their  functions  than  by  any 
literary  distinction.  Louis  XIV  having  been  declared  the 
protector  of  the  Academy,  the  title  of  Academician  had  its 
place  in  the  hierarchy  of  the  court,  and  was  coveted  by  the 
greatest  lords  of  France  and  the  highest  dignitaries  of  state 
and  church.  Although  to-day  the  tendency  is  toward  the 
selection  of  members  on  the  basis  of  literary  qualifications, 
originally  this  was  not  the  case.  As  late  as  the  end  of  the 
eighteenth  century,  Voltaire  wrote:  "  The  French  Academy 
contains  prelates,  noblemen,  lawyers,  professors,  and  even 
some  writers. ' ' . 

The  Academy  was  to  occupy  itself  solely  with  the  French 
language — to  purify  it  and  to  fix  it  by  the  publication  of  a 
dictionary,  a  grammar,  and  poetics.  At  Richelieu's  request 
the  Academy  was  charged  with  compiling  and  editing  a  dic- 

163 


THE    HISTORY   OF    FRENCH   LITERATURE 

tionary  "  which  would  bring  the  French  language  to  its 
highest  perfection  in  designating  a  means  of  reaching  the 
highest  degree  of  eloquence."  Vaugelas  was  put  in  charge 
of  directing  the  enterprise.  The  dictionary  then  became  the 
principal  occupation  of  the  Academy,  but  the  first  edition  * 
did  not  appear  until  1694.  The  slowness  with  which  it  pro- 
gressed made  it  the  object  of  much  raillery.  An  epigram 
on  it  by  Boisrobert  is  famous : 

Depuis  six  mois  sur  1'F  on  travaille, 

Et  le  destin  m'aurait  fort  oblig6 

S'il  m'avait  dit:  tu  vivras  jusqu'  au  G.2 

In  1663,  Colbert,  minister  of  Louis  XIV,  appointed  a 
committee  of  four  (from  the  forty  members)  called  La  Petite 
Academic,  whose  special  work  it  was  to  conduct  the  composi- 
tion and  editing  of  the  inscriptions  on  public  monuments. 
Later  this  name  was  changed  to  Academie  Royale  des  Inscrip- 
tions et  Belles-Lettres.  A  third  branch  or  class,  the  Academie 
des  Sciences,  was  added  to  the  original  Academy  by  Colbert 
in  1666. 

For  a  long  time  the  Academy  had  no  fixed  abode,  but  met 
at  the  different  private  houses,  until  Louis  XIV  assigned  it 
a  hall  in  the  Louvre,  which  it  held  until  1793  (Year  II  of  the 
Republican  Calendar),  when  it  was  dissolved  by  the  Conven- 
tion. In  1795,  the  Directoire  reestablished  the  Academy 
(three  branches)  under  the  name  of  Institut  National,  to 
which  Napoleon  I  added  the  fourth  class  or  branch,  the 
Academie  des  Beaux-Arts.  The  fifth  branch,  the  Academie 
des  Sciences  Morales  et  Politiques  was  added  in  1832  at 
Guizot's  suggestion.  Each  of  these  five  branches  is  composed 
of  forty  regular  members  (except  the  Academie  des  sciences, 
which  has  sixty-eight),  and  a  great  number  of  associates  and 
correspondents.  Every  regular  member  receives  1500  francs, 
and  the  secretary  of  each  branch,  6000  francs  annually.  Each 
branch  meets  independently  of  the  others,  except  once  a  year 

1  The  last  (seventh)  appeared  in  1877. 

2  For  six  months  they  have  been  working  on  F, 
Fate  would  have  been  kind  to  me 
Had  it  said:   "  You  will  live  till  G." 
164 


THE  SEVENTEENTH  CENTURY 

(October  25th),  when  a  great  general  assemblage  of  all  the 
members  takes  place  in  the  Palais  de  1'Institut. 

The  first  branch,  the  Academic  Franchise  and  its  forty 
immortels,1  exerts  a  powerful  influence  on  the  progress  of 
literature,  owing  to  the  numerous  annual  prizes  it  bestows 
upon  the  worthy  works  of  French  literature;  besides  which 
it  has  the  disposal  of  several  prizes  to  reward  noble  deeds. 
"  The  Academy  has  impressed  on  the  minds  of  the  nation 
the  idea  that  the  glory  of  literature  is  an  integral  and  neces- 
sary part  of  the  greatness  of  a  people."  The  Academy's 
original  statutes  are  almost  unaltered,  and  at  the  present  time 
it  works  daily  on  its  dictionary  and  grammar.  It  also  criti- 
cises, approves,  or  disapproves,  and  judges  the  works  it  under- 
takes to  crown. 

Since  1806,  the  general  name  of  the  five  branches  has  been 
Institut  de  France,  with  the  various  qualifying  adjectives — 
royal,  imperial,  or  national — added  according  to  the  form  of 
governments.  And  this  Institut  de  France  occupies  the  first 
place  among  all  the  Institutes  in  the  world. 

1  The  term  immortel  is  used  in  a  Society  (and  especially  the  Acade"mie 
Fran9aise)  in  which  deceased  members  are  immediately  replaced. 


CHAPTER   XII 

COBNEILLE 

LYRIC  poetry  was  expiring  and  the  tendency  of  poetry 
became  by  turns  preeieux,  burlesque,  and  fantastic.  The  novel, 
too,  was  subject  to  the  fashion  of  the  hour — exotic,  descrip- 
tive, historical — but,  interminable  and  mediocre,  it  could  not 
survive  its  day,  except  the  realistic  novel  of  Sorel  and  the 
Roman  comique  of  Scarron. 

The  theater  on  the  contrary  improved,  and  soon  put  forth 
masterpieces.  When  Hardy  was  still  the  great  and  almost 
sole  purveyor  of  pieces  for  the  stage,  the  simultaneous  decora- 
tions 1  of  the  old  mysteries  were  still  in  use,  the  scenes  being 
reduced  in  size  and  placed  in  close  juxtaposition  according 
to  the  space  allowed ;  and  the  plays  were  confused  and  uneven. 
In  his  Mort  d'Alexandre,  the  first  two  acts  were  taken  up  in 
the  expression  of  portentous  omens  and  sinister  forebodings ; 
in  the  third,  Alexander  was  poisoned;  and  during  the  entire 
two  last  acts  he  died. 

From  about  1628,  a  number  of  poets  made  their  debut  in 
tragedy:  Theophile  de  Viau  in  Pyrame  et  Thisbe*  Racan, 
Rotrou,  Francois  1'Hermite,  known  as  Tristan,  whose  Mari- 
amne  became  famous,  du  Ryer,  Desmarets,  La  Calprenede,  etc. 
Tragedy  found  its  form  with  the  establishment  of  the  ' '  three 
unities,"  which  were  employed  for  the  first  time  in  Jean 
Mairet's  tragedy  Sophonisbe  (1629).  The  three  unities:  the 
unity  of  action,  of  time,  and  of  place  were  considered  the 

*The  grouping  side  by  side  on  the  stage  of  all  the  places  where  the 
action  is  to  occur. 

2  Le  voila,  ce  poignard,  qui  du  sang  de  son  maltre 
S'est  souill^  lachement:  il  en  rougit,  le  traitre. 

(Here  is  the  dagger  which,  with  its  master's  blood 
Has  dastardly  stained  itself:  it  blushes,  the  wretch.) 

166 


constituent  and  necessary  elements  of  tragedy,  as  interpreted 
by  the  Italians  from  Aristotle's  Poetica  (Chapter  VII),  and 
which  Mairet  imitated.  The  critics  of  different  countries  in- 
terpreted these  rules  more  or  less  correctly,  and  later  it  was 
established  that  while  Aristotle  insisted  on  unity  of  action 
as  indispensable  to  the  beauty  of  the  drama,  he  only  advocated 
strongly  the  observance  of  the  unity  of  time  (twenty-four 
hours) ,  and  did  not  mention  unity  of  place.  When  Corneille's 
Cid  appeared,  the  question  was  agitated  and  the  original  in- 
terpretation of  the  rules  was  made  authoritative.  Chapelain 
and  d'Aubignac  helped  to  impose  them  and  later  Boileau 
reduced  them  to  an  exact  formula : 

Qu'en  un  lieu,  qu'en  un  jour,  un  seul  fait  accompli 
Tienne  jusqu'  a  la  fin  le  theatre  rempli.1 

The  insistence  of  the  "  three  unities  "  eliminated  the  pastoral 
and  the  tragi-comedy,  and  with  the  Cid,  Corneille  became  the 
true  creator  of  tragedy.  The  Cid  marks  the  definite  constitu- 
tion of  tragedy;  the  adherence  to  the  three  unities,2  a  close 
study  of  the  soul  and  the  sustaining  of  the  dramatic  interest. 
Corneille's  tragedies  reflect  history  and  politics,  and  show 
an  original  conception  of  the  sovereign  will,  together  with 
loftiness  of  thought  and  heroism  of  sentiment;  whence  has 
come  the  phrase  ecole  de  grandeur  d'dme.  (school  of 
magnanimity).  Racine  in  his  eulogy  of  Corneille,  delivered 
before  the  Academy  said :  ' '  You  well  know  in  what  state  you 
found  the  drama  when  he  began  to  work.  What  disorder! 
What  irregularity!  All  the  rules  of  art,  even  those  of  fitness 
and  decorum  were  violated.  In  this  infancy,  or  more  properly 
speaking,  in  this  chaos  of  the  dramatic  poem  among  us, 

1  Let  one  single  deed  accomplished  in  one  place,  in  one  day, 
Keep  the  stage  filled  until  the  end. 

2  Not  a  strict  adherence,  however;  Corneille  interpreted  unity  of  time 
to  mean  the  minimum  of  duration  in  time;  unity  of  place,  the  minimum 
of  variation  in  place,  and  unity  of  action,  the  maximum  of  verisimilitude. 
(G.  Lanson.) 

The  Preface  of  Cromwell  (considered  the  manifesto  of  the  Romantic 
school)  of  Victor  Hugo  overthrew  the  rule  of  the  "three  unities,"  in- 
sisting alone  upon  the  unity  of  action  as  indispensable  to  a  masterpiece. 

167 


THE    HISTORY    OF    FRENCH   LITERATURE 

Corneille  after  having  for  some  time  sought  the  right  path 
and  fought  against  the  bad  taste  of  his  century,  finally,  in- 
spired by  an  extraordinary  genius,  and  aided  by  the  knowl- 
edge of  the  ancients,  caused  rationality  to  appear  on  the  stage, 
accompanied  by  all  the  splendor,  all  the  embellishments  of 
which  our  language  is  capable;  he  happily  adjusted  the  real 
with  the  ideal  and  left  well  behind  him  all  his  rivals. ' ' 

Before  Moliere,  comedy  in  France  was  but  lightly  esteemed, 
and  the  taste  of  the  public  turned  to  tragedy.  Comedies 
were  contrived  by  the  tragic  poets  between  tragedies,  by  way 
of  recreation;  for  tragedies  they  reserved  the  best  of  their 
talent.  Thus  we  have  Cyrano  de  Bergerac's  Pedant  Joue,  a 
bizarre  buffoonery  from  which  Moliere  borrowed  the  scene  de 
la  galere,  and  another  scene  in  Les  Fourberies  de  Scapin. 
(The  Impostures  of  Scapin)  ;  Scudery's  Trompeur  Puni  (The 
punished  Deceiver),  the  Comedie  des  Comedies,  etc.;  Tristan 
PHermite's  Folie  du  Sage  (The  Wise  Man's  Folly)  ;  Rotrou's 
La  Hague  de  I'Oubli  (The  Ring  of  Oblivion),  Diane  (Diana), 
etc.;  and,  finally,  Corneille 's  youthful  comedies,  so  free  and 
brilliant  in  versification,  Le  Menteur1  (The  Fibber),  and  La 
Suite  du  Menteur.  Le  Menteur  is  a  character  picture,  but  not 
yet  a  character  comedy.  Corneille,  for  the  first  time,  put  a 
character  into  comedy,  but  he  did  not  know  how  to  build  a 
comedy  on  this  character.  However,  this  was  already  a  con- 
siderable progress  over  what  had  preceded,  and  the  road  to 
great  comedy  was  open.  Corneille  was  thus  the  creator  of 
good  comedy  in  France  as  he  had  been  of  true  tragedy.  Be- 
fore him  nothing  piquant,  witty,  or  particularly  amusing  had 
appeared  since  "  1'Avocat  Patelin."  M.  E.  Mennechet  says: 
"  In  order  to  meet  with  some  traces  of  French  gayety,  it  is 
necessary  to  turn  one 's  steps  to  the  Pont-Neuf ,  where  opposite 
the  statue  of  Henry  IV,  the  charlatan  Mondor  and  his  asso- 
ciate Tabarin  made  the  crowd  merry  by  burlesque  and  buf- 
foonery, while  selling  a  balsam  which  they  proclaimed  a  uni- 
versal remedy.  Many  great  lords  and  noble  ladies  stopped 
their  carriages  to  listen  to  their  witticisms.  Among  the  actors 
in  the  open  were  three:  Gros-Gruillaume,  Gauthier-Garguille, 

1  From   the  Spanish  comedy   La  verdad  sospechosa   (The  Suspicions 
Truth),  by  Don  Juan  Ruiz  de  Alarcon. 

168 


CORNEILLE 

and  Turlupin,  who  drew  such  crowds  that  the  comedians  of 
the  king,  who  were  playing  at  the  Hotel  de  Bourgogne,  became 
jealous  of  their  success  and  complained  to  Richelieu.  The  re- 
sult of  this  was  that  the  Cardinal  called  the  three  mounte- 
banks to  play  before  him  in  a  corner  of  his  palace,  arid  they 
amused  him  to  such  an  extent  that  he  advised  the  royal  play- 
ers to  take  the  three  jugglers  into  partnership.  A  hint  from 
the  Cardinal  meant  a  command,  and  soon  Gros-Guillaume, 
Gauthier-Garguille  and  Turlupin  were  installed  in  the  Hotel 
de  Bourgogne,  to  act  their  farces  between  the  tragedies  of  the 
legitimate  players.  Soon  the  rival  Theatre  du  Marais  fol- 
lowed this  example  and  played  farces  which  shared  the  public 
favor  with  the  tragedies  of  Rotrou  and  Corneille,  and  opened 
the  field  for  the  comic  poet. 

Pierre  Corneille,  born  at  Rouen  in  1606,  of  a  family  of 
state  officials,  had  been  destined  for  the  bar  from  his  child- 
hood. He  was  advocate  general  at  the  "  Marble  Table  of 
Rouen. ' ' a  His  literary  career  began  with  the  comedy  Melite 
in  1629.  Tradition  has  it  that  Corneille  introduced  in'oO  this 
comedy  an  adventure  of  his  own  life :  Corneille  was  introduced 
by  a  friend  to  a  young  girl  whom  this  friend  loved  dearly. 
Corneille  supplanted  the  friend  in  the  young  girl's  affections 
just  as,  in  Melite,  Tirsis  supplants  Eraste  with  Melite.  His 
love  Corneille  has  immortalized  in  the  following  verses : 

J'ai  brule  fort  longtemps  d'une  amour  assez  grande, 
Et  que  jusqu'au  tombeau  je  dels  bien  estimer, 
Puisque  ce  fut  par  la  que  j'appris  a  rimer. 
Mon  bonheur  commen^a  quand  mon  ame  fut  prise: 
Je  gagnai  de  la  gloire  en  pendant  ma  franchise.* 

Other  comedies  soon  followed:  Clitandre,  la  Veuve  (The 
Widow),  la  Galerie  du  Palais,  la  Suivante  (The  Waiting 

1  The  Table  de  Marbre  was  a  tribunal  of  appeal  from  the  decisions  of 
the  magistrates  (maitres  des  eaux  et  forets),  who  had  authority  over  the 
whole  extent  of  their  jurisdiction  (matirises) . 

2  For  a  long  time  I  was  consumed  by  a  great  love, 
Which,  even  to  the  grave,  I  ought  well  to  prize, 
Since  it  was  through  it  that  I  learnt  to  rhyme: 

My  happiness  began  when  my  heart  was  captured: 
Losing  my  freedom,  I  gained  glory. 

169 


THE    HISTORY    OF    FRENCH    LITERATURE 

Maid),  la  Place  royale.  These  comedies  were  witty  and  amus- 
ing without  being  coarse.  About  1633  Corneille  was  presented 
to  Richelieu  and  became  one  of  his  ' '  five  authors. ' '  Richelieu 
himself  was  ambitious  to  shine  as  an  author  and  wrote  some 
plays  by  a  peculiar  method  of  collaboration.  He  would 
choose  a  subject,  indicate  its  division  into  acts  and  intrust 
the  versification  of  each  act  to  one  of  the  five  poets:  Bois- 
robert,  1'Estoile,  Colletet,  Rotrou,  and  Pierre  Corneille.  He 
reserved  for  himself  the  task  of  binding  together  all  these 
parts  written  separately,  and  interjected  verses  of  his  own 
making.  After  the  first  attempt,  La  Comedie  des  Tuileries, 
naturally  a  weak  production,  Corneille  withdrew  from  this  im- 
possible union,  much  to  Richelieu's  chagrin.  In  this  manner 
the  tragedy  of  Mirame  was  composed.  Richelieu  displayed  a 
fatherly  tenderness  for  this  drama,  the  representation  of  which 
cost  him  a  sum  equivalent  to  200,000  or  300,000  ecus,  and  for 
which  he  had  a  theater  built  in  his  palace,  now  the  Palais 
Royal.1  "  The  applause  bestowed  upon  this  tragedy  over- 
joyed the  Cardinal.  From  time  to  time  he  arose  and  left  his 
box  to  show  himself  to  the  spectators;  again,  he  would  order 
silence,  in  order  to  have  the  most  beautiful  passages  admired. ' ' 
Corneille 's  tragedy  Medee,  appeared  in  1635,  and  the  Illu- 
sion comique  in  3636,  and  in  the  same  year  the  Cid  had  its 
first  performance  in  Paris,  and  was  received  with  unbounded 
enthusiasm.  "It  is  difficult  to  imagine,"  says  Pellisson, 
"  with  what  approbation  this  piece  was  received  by  the  court 
and  the  public.  People  did  not  grow  tired  of  it;  nothing  else 
was  heard  in  society ;  everyone  knew  a  part  by  heart ;  the 
children  were  taught  it,  and  in  some  parts  of  France,  '  beau- 
tiful as  the  Cid  '  became  a  saying. ' '  The  court  caught  the 
spirit  and  wished  to  see  the  tragedy  which  had  created  such 
a  sensation.  The  comedians  wi^re  commanded  to  play  it  three 
times  at  the  palace  of  the  Louvite,  and  twice  at  the  Cardinal's 
palace.  Even  criticism  was  silent  for  a  moment;  carried 
away  by  the  popular  current,  stunned  by  the  success  of  the 
play,  the  rivals  of  Corneille  seemed  to  join  the  multitude  of 

1  This  Palais  Cardinal,  built  by  Richelieu,  was  presented  by  him  to  the 
King,  and  served  for  a  long  time  as  a  residence  for  the  princes  of  Orleans. 
The  famous  glass  gallery,  called  the  "  GaKerie  d'  Orleans,"  under  the  old 
rdgime  a  rendezvous  for  gamblers  and  libertines,  was  opened  in  1829. 

170 


CORNEILLE 

his  admirers.  But  soon  they  got  their  breath  again,  and  their 
first  sign  of  life  was  an  act  of  resistance  to  the  torrent  which 
threatened  to  carry  them  away.  With  the  exception  of 
Rotrou,  who  was  capable  of  understanding  and  enjoying 
Corneille,  the  uprising  of  the  playwrights  was  unanimous. 
The  malcontents  and  the  envious  ones  had  found  in  Riche- 
lieu an  ardent  and  powerful  auxiliary.  The  struggle  became 
ardent  and  bitter.  Much  was  written  in  praise  or  blame. 

Balzac  wrote  to  Scudery,  who  had  sent  him  his  observa- 
tions on  the  Cid:  "  Consider,  Sir,  that  all  France  makes 
common  cause  with  Corneille,  and  that  there  is,  perhaps,  not 
one  of  the  judges  who — in  spite  of  the  rumor  that  you  have 
conspired  together — has  not  praised  the  work  which  you 
desire  him  to  condemn.  So,  even  if  your  arguments  were  in- 
vincible, and  your  adversary  were  to  acquiesce,  he  would 
still  have  good  reasons  to  console  himself  upon  the  loss  of  the 
suit,  and  to  tell  you  that  it  is  something  more  to  have  satisfied 
an  entire  kingdom  than  to  have  written  a  conventional  play. 
This  being  so,  I  do  not  doubt  that  the  gentlemen  of  the  Acad- 
emy will  find  themselves  hindered  in  a  favorable  judgment  of 
your  suit ;  on  the  one  hand,  your  reasoning  will  not  shake  them, 
and,  on  the  other,  the  public  approval  will  restrain  them.  You 
are  victorious  in  the  Cabinet ;  Corneille  has  won  in  the  theater. 
If  the  Cid  is  guilty,  it  is  of  a  crime  that  has  been  rewarded ; 
if  he  is  punished,  it  will  be  only  after  a  triumph.  If  Plato 
must  banish  him  (the  Cid)  from  his  republic,  he  must  crown 
him  with  flowers  while  banishing  him,  and  treat  him  no  worse 
than  he  once  treated  Homer." 

A  polemic,  still  celebrated,  appeared  under  the  name  of 
the  "  Quarrel  of  the  Cid,"  and  nothing  was  heard  on  the 
streets,  it  is  said,  except  the  cries  of  the  sellers  of  pamphlets 
for,  or  against  the  Cid.  The  public  remained  faithful  to  the 
play,  so  the  Cardinal  craftily  resolved  to  defer  his  judgment 
to  the  Academy,  thus  exacting  from  it  an  act  of  homage  to 
him,  under  cover  of  deference  to  the  predominant  opinion. 
The  Academy  edited  its  Sentiments  in  December,  1637,  but 
they  did  not  satisfy  the  Cardinal.  Corneille  showed  great 
displeasure,  and  said :  ' '  The  Academy  proceeds  against  me 
with  so  much  violence,  and  employs  such  a  sovereign  authority 
to  close  my  mouth,  that  my  sole  satisfaction  rests  in  thinking 

171 


THE    HISTORY    OF   FRENCH   LITERATURE 

that  the  famous  work  on  which  so  many  brilliant  minds  have 
labored  for  six  months,  may,  indeed,  be  deemed  the  sentiment 
of  the  French  Academy.  But  perhaps  this  will  not  be  the 
sentiment  of  the  rest  of  Paris.  I  have  created  the  Cid  for 
my  own  recreation  and  that  of  people  of  taste,  who  delight 
in  the  play." 

Corneille  did  not  further  defend  himself;  but  the  public, 
less  docile,  persisted  in  its  opinion.  It  was  as  Boileau  said, 
later  on : 

En  vain  contre  le  Cid  un  ministre  se  ligue. 

Tout  Paris  pour  Chimene  a  les  yeux  de  Rodrigue. 

L' Academic  en  corps  a  beau  le  censurer, 

Le  public,  re  volte,  s'obstine  a  I'admirer.1 

The  struggle  was  terminated,  and  the  Cardinal's  anger  ceased; 
and  when  Horace  appeared  in  1639,  the  dedicatory  epistle 
was  addressed  to  the  Cardinal.  In  the  same  year,  Cinna 
placed  the  reputation  of  the  great  poet  at  its  height. 

Corneille  returned  to  the  obscurity  of  private  life  which 
agreed  with  the  simplicity  of  his  manners.  It  is  said  the 
Cardinal  helped  him  to  get  married.  Corneille  lived  at 
Rouen,  in  a  house  adjoining  that  of  his  younger  brother, 
Thomas,2  already  well  known  through  some  comedies  which 
had  been  successful.  The  two  brothers  married  two  sisters : 

Les  deux  maisons  ne  faisaient  qu'une; 
Les  clefs,  la  bourse  etait  commune; 

Les  femmes  n'etaient  jamais  deux; 
Tous  les  VCKUX  etaient  unanimes : 

Les  enfants  confondaient  leurs  jeux; 
Les  peres  se  pretaient  leurs  rimes; 

Le  meme  vin  coulait  pour  eux.3 

1  In  vain  a  minister  leagues  himself  against  the  Cid;  all  Paris  sees 
Chimene  through  Rodrigue's  eyes.    The  Academy  in  a  body  has  censured 
it  in  vain;  the  public,  indignant,  persists  in  admiring  it. 

2  When  Corneille  was  at  a  loss  for  a  rhyme  to  complete  a  verse,  he  would 
open  a  small  slide  leading  to  his  brother's  room,  exclaiming,  for  instance: 
"Sans  souci,  a  rhyme." 

3  The  two  houses  made  but  one;  the  keys,  the  purse  were  in  common; 
the  women  were  of  one  accord;  all  wishes  were  unanimous;  the  children 
mingled  in  their  sports,  the  fathers  lent  each  other  their  rhymes,  the  same 
wine  ran  for  them. 

172 


CORNEILLE 

In  Polyeucte  (1643),  Corneille's  style  is  loftier  and  purer, 
his  thoughts  more  exact.  This  play  marked  a  second  revolu- 
tion in  endeavoring  to  overturn  paganism,  which  was  the  pre- 
vailing idea  of  the  theater.  Corneille  had  dedicated  this  piece 
to  the  regent  Anne  of  Austria.  Richelieu  was  no  longer 
present  to  impose  his  judgment,  and  Corneille  wrote : 

Qu'on  parle  bien  ou  mal  du  fameux  Cardinal, 
Ma  prose  ni  mes  vers  n'en  diront  jamais  rien; 

II  m'a  fait  trop  de  bien  pour  en  dire  du  mal, 
II  m'a  fait  trop  de  mal  pour  en  dire  du  bien! J 

About  the  same  time,  Corneille's  comedy  Le  Menteur  appeared 
upon  the  stage. 

There  were  three  periods  in  the  career  of  Corneille.  The 
first  comprised:  Clitandre,  La  Galerie  du  Palais,  La  Veuve, 
La  Place  Roy  ale,  L' Illusion;  the  second,  his  best  period:  Le 
Cid,  Horace,  Cinna,  Polyeucte,  La  Mort  de  Pompee,  Nicomede, 
Rodogune;  the  third:  Sophonisbe,  Sertorius,  Othon,  CEdipe, 
Agesilas,  Pulcherie,  Attila,  Surena.  The  last  plays  were  not 
worthy  of  his  genius. 

Corneille  had  announced  that  he  had  given  up  the  theater ; 
and  he  translated  the  "  Imitation  of  Christ,"  in  verses.  "  It 
is  better,"  he  had  written  in  his  preface  to  Pertharite,  "  that 
I  resign  of  my  own  volition,  than  that  I  be  dismissed  entirely ; 
it  is  right,  that  after  twenty  years  of  work  I  begin  to  notice 
that  I  am  growing  too  old  to  be  still  fashionable. ' '  After  six 
years  of  retirement  he  again  appeared  with  CEdipe.  Fouquet 
had  recalled  the  genius  of  Corneille  to  the  theater,  and  the 
poet  wrote: 

Je  sens  le  meme  feu,  je  sens  la  meme  audace 
Qui  fit  plaindre  "le  Cid,"  qui  fit  combattre  "Horace;" 
Et  je  me  trouve  encore  la  main  qui  crayonna 
L'ame  du  grand  Pompee  et  1'esprit  de  Cinna.2 

1  Let  them  speak  well  or  ill  of  the  famous  Cardinal :  neither  in  prose  nor 
verse  will  I  ever  speak  of  him.  He  has  done  me  too  much  good  for  me  to 
speak  evil  of  him;  he  has  done  me  too  much  evil  for  me  to  speak  good  of 
him. 

*  I  feel  the  same  fire,  I  feel  the  same  boldness  which  made  the  Cid  to  be 
pitied,  which  made  Horace  fight;  and  I  still  find  myself  the  hand  which 
drew  the  soul  of  the  great  Pompey  and  the  mind  of  Cinna. 

173 


THE    HISTORY   OF    FRENCH   LITERATURE 

"  Pierre  Corneille,"  says  Faguet,  "  is  the  first  man  of 
great  genius  who  appeared  in  France,  and  he  remains  one  of 
the  four  or  five  great  tragic  poets  of  all  time.  He  spent 
some  ten  years  writing  romantic,  or  even  buffoon  comedies; 
yet  those  pieces  are  still  read  with  pleasure.  Later  on,  he 
formed  a  conception  of  human  greatness  which  became  his 
conception  of  tragic  greatness." 

Corneille,  in  his  energetic,  sometimes  sublime  verses,  de- 
picted men  as  they  should  be.  "  He  moves  us  as  before  a 
masterpiece,  he  warms  us  with  the  rumor  of  a  fine  action,  and 
he  intoxicates  us  with  the  sole  idea  of  a  virtue  removed  from 
us  forever  by  the  space  of  three  thousand  years,"  said  La 
Bruyere.  Every  other  thought,  every  other  preoccupation 
is  strange  to  the  poet;  his  characters  breathe  heroic  passions 
which  they  pursue  without  turning  aside  or  allowing  them- 
selves to  be  fettered  by  a  mortality  still  imperfectly  fixed,  and 
often  opposed  by  the  interests  and  engagements  of  factions; 
and  thus  he  remains  supremely  a  man  of  his  time  and  of  his 
country,  while  at  the  same  time  depicting  Greeks,  Romans, 
Spaniards.  He  does  not  preach  virtue,  but  the  heroism  of  his 
characters  pervades  the  mind  of  the  reader — it  appeals  to  our 
better  nature,  our  thoughts  are  purified  and  elevated — at  such 
heights  poetry  and  morals  blend.  La  Bruyere  says :  ' '  When 
a  book  elevates  the  mind,  do  not  seek  another  rule  for  passing 
judgment  on  the  work ;  it  is  well  made,  and  made  by  a  master 
hand."  The  poet  used  to  say  smilingly,  when  reproached  for 
the  slowness  and  sterility  of  his  conversation:  "  I  am  none 
the  less  Pierre  Corneille."  The  world  has  passed  the  same 
judgment  on  his  works;  in  spite  of  the  failures  of  his  last 
years,  he  has  remained  the  "  great  Corneille." 

"  The  style  of  Corneille,"  says  Demogeot,  "  is  the  merit 
by  which  he  excels.  The  touch  of  the  poet  is  crude,  severe 
and  rigorous,  with  but  little  adornment  and  color.  It  is  warm 
rather  than  brilliant;  he  is  fond  of  turning  to  the  abstract, 
and  imagination  yields  to  thought  and  reason.  On  the  whole, 
Corneille,  a  pure  genius,  incomplete  in  his  grandeur  and  his 
faults,  creates  for  me  the  effect  of  those  great  trees,  bare, 
rugged,  sad,  and  monotonous  of  trunk,  covered  with  branches 
and  dark  verdure  only  at  the  summit.  Such  trees  are  vig- 
orous, powerful,  gigantic,  with  little  foliage;  abundant  sap 

174 


CORNEILLE 

rises  in  them.  But  do  not  expect  shelter,  nor  shade,  nor 
flowers. ' ' 

Brunetiere  writes  of  the  tragedy  of  Corneille:  "It  is 
beautiful,  it  is  wonderful,  it  is  sublime,  it  is  not  human,  nor 
living,  nor  true."  But  writes  Lanson:  "  M.  Brunetiere  is 
severe.  Corneille 's  heroes  are  exceptional  creatures;  the  de- 
ranged or  passive  heroes  of  the  contemporaneous  novel  or 
drama,  are  they  of  a  more  normal  and  proportional  nature? 
And  is  it  not  just  as  legitimate  to  select  in  the  general  human- 
ity some  exceptional  beings,  as  to  depict  conditions  which  are 
not  common  except  in  extreme  and  particular  cases  of  human- 
ity ?  And  adds  Lanson : ' '  How  the  tragedy  of  Corneille  takes 
color  and  life!  When  one  reads  it  the  imagination  is  filled 
with  the  political  history  of  the  times.  It  appears  as  a  clear 
concentration  of  moral  traits,  dispersed  in  the  Memoires  of  de 
Retz  and  of  Saint-Simon,  in  the  letters  and  the  papers  of  the 
ministers  and  ambassadors!  It  is  to  the  France  of  Louis 
XIII  what  Le  Rouge  et  le  Noir 1  or  the  novels  of  Balzac  are 
to  the  France  of  Charles  X  or  Louis  Philippe.  .  .  .  One  has 
never  entertained  doubt  as  to  the  influence  Corneille  could 
exercise ;  his  tragedy  is  a  school  for  the  greatness  of  the  soul.  It 
incites  aspiration  to  great  efforts,  to  noble  passions,  to  heroic 
sacrifices.  Never  has  public  opinion  varied  in  this  respect." 

Corneille 's  conception  of  tragedy  is  the  exaltation  of 
the  sovereign  will  above  the  fatality  of  the  passions,  and  it  is 
from  this  standpoint — the  sovereignty  of  the  will — that  Cor- 
neille regards  the  human  soul.  His  heroes  are  masters  of 
themselves : 

Qu'  importe  de  mon  cceur,  si  je  sais  mon  devoir?  * 

Aristie  in  Sertorius. 

Je  suis  maitre  de  moi  comme  de  1'univers: 

Je  le  suis,  je  veux  1'etre.    O  siecles,  6  memoire,  v^^ 

Conservez  a  jamais  ma  derniere  victoire ! 3 

Auguste  in  Cinna. 

1  Red  and  Black,  by  Henri  Beyle,  known  by  the  nom  de  plume  of 
Stendhal. 

2  What  matters  about  my  heart,  if  I  know  my  duty? 
8 1  am  master  of  myself  as  I  am  of  the  universe: 

I  am,  it  is  my  will  that  I  be.     Oh,  ages,  oh,  memory, 
,    Retain  forever  my  last  victory! 

175 


THE    HISTORY    OP    FRENCH    LITERATURE 

Sur  mes  passions  ma  raison  souveraine.1 

Pauline  in  Polyeucte. 
Je  suis  fort  peu  de  chose, 
Mais  enfin  de  mon  cceur  moi-meme  je  dispose.2 

Dirc6  in  (Edipe. 

Faites  votre  devoir  et  laissez  faire  aux  dieux.* 

Old  Horace  in  Horace. 

Lanson  says  the  Cornelian  sublimity  lies  therein  that  the 
whole  soul,  when  the  crucial  moment  comes,  reaches  with  a 
single  impulse  toward  the  good.  Examine,  he  says,  the  places 
where  one  feels  the  indefinable  impression  to  which  the  word 
"  sublime  "  has  been  applied: 

Je  suis  jeune  il  est  vrai ;  mais  aux  ames  bien  nees, 
La  vertu  n 'attend  pas  le  nombre  des  annees.4 

Rodrigue  in  the  Cid. 

Que  vouliez-vous  qu'il  fit  centre  trois? — Qu'il  mourut! ' 

Horace. 

Ou  le  conduisez-vous? — 
— A  la  mort. 
— A  la  gloire.8 

Polyeucte. 

Argument  of  Le  Cid:  Chimene,  the  daughter  of  Count 
Gormas,  loves  Don  Rodrigo,  son  of  Don  Diego.  The  king 
names  Don  Diego  tutor  to  his  son,  in  consequence  of  which 
Don  Gormas,  who  feels  himself  entitled  to  the  post,  quarrels 
with  Don  Diego  and  strikes  him.  As  the  latter  is  too  old  to 
revenge  himself,  his  son,  Don  Rodrigo,  challenges  Count 

1  My  sovereign  reason  over  my  passions. 
2 1  am  but  very  little, 

But  after  all,  I  myself  dispose  of  my  heart. 
3  Do  your  duty  and  leave  the  rest  to  the  gods. 

•  I  am  young,  'tis  true;  but  with  generous  souls 
Courage  waits  not  for  the  number  of  years. 

•  What  would  you  have  him  do  against  three? — Die! 

•  "Where  are  you  leading  him?  (asks  Pauline). 
"To  death"  (answers  Felix). 

"To  glory"  (replies  Pauline). 
176 


CORNEILLE 

Gormas  and  kills  him  in  a  duel.  Chimene  throws  herself  at 
the  feet  of  the  king  and  begs  him  to  punish  Rodrigo,  her 
filial  duty  overpowering  her  love.  Rodrigo,  however,  offers 
his  dagger  to  Chimene  begging  her  to  revenge  herself  on  him. 
Her  love  for  him  triumphs,  and  Rodrigo  departs  for  the  wars 
against  the  Moors,  against  whom  he  wins  a  great  victory,  from 
which  he  returns  home  as  the  Cid,1  and  is  lauded  as  the  savior 
of  his  country.  Chimene  persists  in  avenging  her  father  and 
promises  to  be  the  wife  of  him  who  kills  the  Cid  in  a  duel. 
Don  Sanche  is  the  rival  of  the  Cid,  and  when  vanquished  by 
the  latter  brings  his  sword  to  lay  it  at  the  feet  of  the  king. 
Chimene,  thinking  the  Cid  has  been  killed,  pours  forth  her 
grief.  The  king  seeing  this,  apprises  her  of  the  Cid's  vic- 
tory in  the  duel,  and  decides  that  she  marry  the  hero  who  has 
never  ceased  to  love  her. 

Many  lines  of  this  beautiful,  powerful,  and  original  trag- 
edy have  passed  into  proverbs : 

Ses  rides  sur  son  front  ont  grave1  ses  exploits.* 

Rodrigue,  as-tu  du  cceur?  • 
A  vaincre  sans  pe"ril  on  triomphe  sans  gloire.* 

Argument  of  Horace:  The  city  of  jEneas,  and  that  of 
Romulus — Alba  and  Rome — have  been  at  war  for  a  long  time. 
To  put  an  end  to  useless  shedding  of  blood,  it  has  been 
resolved  to  choose  from  both  sides  three  champions  and  to 
give  first  rank  to  that  one  of  the  two  cities  whose  champions 
are  victorious.  Alba  chooses  three  brothers  by  the  name  of 
Curiatii,  and  Rome  three  brothers  by  the  name  of  Horatii. 

1  The  subject  of  Le  Cid  is  taken  from  the  Spanish  author  Guilhelm  de 
Castro.  The  title  of  Cid  is  said  to  have  been  given  to  Rodrigo  de  Bivar 
(the  principal  national  hero  of  Spain,  famous  for  his  exploits  in  the  wars 
with  the  Moors)  because  of  the  remarkable  circumstance  that  five  Moorish 
kings  or  chiefs  acknowledge  him  in  one  battle  as  their  Seid,  which  is  the 
Arabic,  as  Cid  is  the  Spanish  word,  for  "chief."  The  name  has  become 
proverbial  to  designate  a  young,  intrepid  warrior  of  chivalrous  character. 

1  The  wrinkles  on  his  brow  have  engraved  his  exploits. 

3  Rodrigo,  hast  thou  courage? 

•  In  conquering  without  danger,  one  triumphs  without  glory. 
13  .7 


THE    HISTORY   OF    FRENCH   LITERATURE 

But  one  Horatius  has  married  Sabina,  sister  of  the  Curiatii, 
and  one  of  the  Curiatii  is  about  to  marry  Camilla,  sister  of 
the  Horatii.  Horatius  and  Curiatius  love  their  country 
equally;  but  Curiatius  is  overcome  with  emotion  at  being 
obliged  to  fight  against  those  who  will  be  doubly  his  brothers- 
in-law,  while  Horatius,  on  the  contrary,  from  the  moment 
when  the  interest  of  Rome  is  at  stake,  knows  no  longer  Curi- 
atius, and  thinks  only  of  his  country. 

One  of  the  most  sublime  scenes  is  that  where  old  Horatius, 
believing  that  his  son  has  fled  before  the  Curiatii,  after  having 
seen  his  two  brothers  slain  before  his  eyes,  is  angered,  and 
breaks  out  in  threats  against  him.  Soon  he  learns  that  his 
son  did  not  flee ;  far  from  it,  he  killed  the  three  Curiatii,  and, 
proud  of  his  victory,  he  returns  laden  with  the  spoils  of  the 
conquered.  He  meets  his  sister  Camilla  and  asks  her  con- 
gratulations. Camilla  cares  little  for  the  glory  of  Rome; 
what  she  sees  in  this  triumph  is  the  death  of  her  betrothed, 
and  she  curses  her  native  city  in  a  famous  tirade  that  well 
expresses  the  dramatic  height  attained  in  Horace: 

Rome,  1 'unique  objet  de  mon  ressentiment! 
Rome,  a  qui  vient  ton  bras  d'immoler  mon  amant! 
Rome  qui  t'a  vu  naitre  et  que  ton  cceur  adore! 
Rome,  enfin,  que  je  hais  parce  qu'elle  t'honore! 
Puissent  tous  ses  voisins,  ensemble  conjures, 
Saper  ses  fondements  encor  mal  assures! 
Et  si  ce  n'est  assez  de  toute  1'Italie, 
Que  POrient  centre  elle  a  1'Occident  s'allie; 
Que  cent  peuples  unis  des  bouts  de  1'univers 
Passent  pour  la  detruire  et  les  monts  et  les  mers! 
Qu'elle-meme  sur  soi  renverse  ses  murailles! 
Et  de  ses  prop  res  mains  de"chire  ses  entrailles! 
Que  le  courroux  du  ciel  allumS  par  mes  vceux 
Fasse  pleuvoir  sur  elle  un  deluge  de  feux ! 
Puisse"-je  de  mes  yeux  y  voir  tomber  ce  foudre, 
Voir  ses  maisons  en  cendre,  et  tes  lauriers  en  poudre, 
Voir  le  dernier  Romain  a  son  dernier  soupir, 
Moi  seule  en  etre  cause,  et  mourir  de  plaisir!  l 

Rome,  the  sole  object  of  my  hatred! 
Rome,  for  which  thy  arm  has  just  slain  my  lover! 
Rome,  which  gave  thee  birth  and  that  thy  heart  idolizes! 
ITS 


CORNEILLE 

Hearing  those  blasphemies,  Horatius  rushes  upon  his  sis- 
ter and  kills  her.  What  will  the  Romans  do?  Shall  they 
condemn  Horatius  who  has  just  given  them  their  victory? 
The  judges  condemn,  but  the  people  absolve  him. 

Horace  is  founded  on  the  historical  story  related  by  Livy, 
of  the  combat  between  the  Horatii  and  Curiatii.  Of  all  the 
plays  of  Corneille,  it  is  the  most  realistic  in  its  dialogue, 
characters,  and  actions;  the  second  and  third  acts  are  among 
the  most  sublime  he  has  ever  created. 

Argument  of  Cinna  (or,  the  Clemency  of  Augustus)  : 
The  Emperor  Augustus  has  intrusted  Cinna,  grandson  of 
the  great  Pompey,  with  high  offices  and  much  power.  Cinna 
loves  Emilia,  who  although  she  returns  his  love,  will  not  con- 
sent to  marry  him,  unless  he  avenges  the  death  of  her  father, 
who  was  executed  by  order  of  Augustus.  Cinna  then  forms 
a  conspiracy  with  the  principal  citizens  of  Rome,  and  comes 
to  inform  Emilia  of  the  resolutions  of  the  conspirators.  His 
recital  is  scarcely  ended,  when  a  message  of  the  Emperor 
summons  him  to  the  palace.  Cinna,  believing  all  to  be  lost, 
prepares  to  die;  but  Augustus,  tired  of  the  cares  of  empire, 
merely  wishes  to  consult  with  him  as  to  whether  or  not  to  ab- 
dicate. Cinna,  who  fears  to  lose  the  opportunity  of  revenging 
Emilia,  prevails  upon  him  with  great  eloquence  to  continue 
reigning.  Then  Maximus,  another  aspirant  for  the  hand  of 
Emilia,  and  jealous  of  Cinna,  reveals  the  conspiracy  to  Augus- 
tus, who  has  the  conspirators  seized,  but  resolves  upon  clem- 

Rome,  in  short,  which  I  hate  because  she  honors  thee! 
May  all  her  neighboring  states  together  conspiring 
Undermine  her  still  insecure  foundations! 
And  if  the  whole  of  Italy  be  not  strong  enough, 
Let  the  East  with  the  West  join  against  her; 
May  a  hundred  peoples  from  the  ends  of  the  earth 
Cross,  to  destroy  her,  both  mountains  and  seas! 
May  she  tear  down  her  walls  over  herself 
And  with  her  own  hands  pluck  out  her  entrails! 
May  the  wrath  of  Heaven  kindled  by  my  prayers 
Cause  a  deluge  of  fire  to  pour  down  upon  her! 
May  I  with  my  own  eyes  watch  the  bolt  fall, 
See  her  houses  reduced  to  ashes,  and  thy  laurels  to  dust, 
See  the  last  Roman  drawing  his  last  breath; 
I  alone  be  the  cause  of  it  all,  and  die  exulting! 
179 


THE    HISTORY   OF   FRENCH   LITERATURE 

ency.  He  overwhelms  Cinna  with  proofs  of  the  plot  and  the 
remembrance  of  benefits  conferred.  Cinna  expects  only  death, 
but  Augustus  forgives  him,  and  disarms  his  hatred  by  the  un- 
expected words:  "  Soyons  amis,  Cinna  "  ("  Let  us  be  friends, 
Cinna  "),  and  unites  him  with  Emilia,  whose  hatred  yields 
to  the  royal  clemency. 

Voltaire  said:  "  But,  true  or  false,  this  clemency  of 
Augustus  is  one  of  the  noblest  subjects  of  tragedy,  one  of 
the  most  beautiful  lessons  for  princes.  It  points  a  great 
moral.  This  is,  in  my  opinion,  the  master-work  of  Corneille, 
in  spite  of  some  defects." 

Argument  of  Polyeucte.  Christianity  has  penetrated  into 
the  Roman  Empire,  but  is  still  persecuted.  Felix,  governor 
of  Armenia,  has  given  his  daughter,  Pauline,  in  marriage 
to  Polyeucte,  an  Armenian  lord  whose  credit  may  strengthen 
the  fortune  of  Felix.  Pauline  loves  Severus,  a  Roman  gen- 
eral, and  she  yields,  with  regret,  to  the  orders  of  her  father. 
Edicts  are  issued  commanding  that  Christians  be  put  to 
death.  Polyeucte  converted  by  his  friend,  Nearches,  be- 
comes a  Christian,  and  publicly  breaks  the  images  of  the 
false  gods.  Meanwhile,  Severus,  who  was  believed  dead, 
arrives  in  Armenia,  having  by  his  valorous  deeds  become  a 
favorite  of  the  Emperor  Decius.  Felix,  for  fear  of  the  Em- 
peror's wrath,  and  seeing  in  Polyeucte 's  death  a  chance  for 
gaining  the  Emperor's  favorite  as  a  son-in-law,  has  Poly- 
eucte arrested.  Pauline  wants  to  save  her  husband,  whom 
she  does  not  love;  Severus  unites  his  efforts  with  those  of 
Pauline  to  appease  Felix.  But  this  ambitious  villain  sees 
in  such  generosity  merely  a  trap,  and  hastens  to  destroy  his 
son-in-law.  Polyeucte  persists  in  confessing  his  faith;  he 
dies  a  martyr.  His  death  arouses  the  admiration  of  Severus, 
who  promises  to  procure  the  Emperor's  protection  for  the 
new  faith,  and  brings  about  the  conversion  of  Felix  and  Pau- 
line, whose  words :  "  Je  vois,  je  sais,  je  crois,  je  suis  desabu- 
see!  "  (I  see,  I  know,  I  believe,  I  am  undeceived)  have  be- 
come proverbial  as  expressing  a  profound  conviction. 

The  "  Sun  King  "  of  that  Age  of  Splendor  did  not  shed 
much  of  his  gold  upon  Corneille.  He  was  less  generous  to 
the  creator  of  French  drama  than  to  any  other  writer  of  his 
reign.  During  the  last  months  of  his  life,  Corneille 's  illness 

180 


CORNEILLE 

exhausted  his  pecuniary  resources.  Boileau,  who  was  in- 
formed of  his  sad  position,  went  straightway  to  Versailles  and 
offered  to  relinquish  his  own  pension  in  favor  of  Corneille: 
"  I  cannot,"  he  said  to  Madame  de  Montespan,  "  receive 
without  shame,  a  pension  from  the  King,  while  a  man  like 
Corneille  is  deprived  of  it."  Louis  XIV  hastened  to  send 
one  hundred  louis  to  the  illustrious  patient,  but  two  days 
later  Corneille  died  at  the  age  of  seventy-eight  years  (1684). 
The  nineteenth  century  would  have  justified  his  greatness  and 
his  genius,  for  Napoleon  Bonaparte  said  of  him:  "  I  would 
have  raised  a  poet  like  Corneille  to  the  rank  of  a  prince. ' ' 


CHAPTER   XIII 

TRANSITION  OP   MEDIAEVAL  PHILOSOPHY — DESCARTES 

DURING  the  Middle  Ages,  philosophy  was  the  "  hand- 
maiden "  of  theology.  The  church  was  the  only  moral  power 
universally  recognized.  It  treasured  all  the  ancient  culture — 
art,  learning,  science — everything  centered  in  the  monasteries. 
These  were  the  schools  (scola),  the  only  places  of  instruc- 
tion. Hence  the  term,  scholasticism,  which  in  reality  meant 
rather  a  method  than  a  doctrine. 

Porphyry1  in  his  celebrated  Introduction  to  the  Cate- 
gories, translated  into  Latin  by  Boethius,2  sets  forth  the 
problem:  "  Are  the  universals  realities,  or  only  abstract  con- 
ceptions? "  This  question  agitated  the  scolastics  and  brought 
about  the  quarrel  of  the  "  Universals,"  which  gave  rise  to 
three  philosophical  schools  in  the  Middle  Ages:  the  Realist, 
the  Nominalist,  and  the  Conceptualist. 

Professor  Schwegler 3  says :  ' '  Hand  in  hand  with  the 
development  of  Scholasticism  in  general  proceeded  that  of 
the  antithesis  between  nominalism  and  realism.  The  nom- 
inalists were  those  who  held  universal  notions  (universalia) 
to  be  mere  names,  empty  conceptions  without  reality.  The 
realists  held  firm  by  the  objective  reality  of  the  universals 
(universalia  ante  res}.  The  antithesis  of  these  opinions  took 
form  first,  as  between  Roscellinus,*  as  nominalist  and  Anselm,5 

1  Melech,  called  Porphyry,  a  great  philosopher  and  writer,  was  born  in 
Syria  about  232  A.D.,  and  taught  philosophy  in  Rome. 

1  Roman  philosopher  and  poet  of  the  sixth  century. 

3  Schwegler's  History  of  Philosophy,  translated  and  annotated  by  James 
Hutchison  Stirling,  LL.D. 

•Roscellinus,  born  in  France  about  1150,  died  about  1220,  called  the 
founder  of  Nominalism. 

•  Saint- Anselm,  born  in  Italy  1033,  died  at  Canterbury  1109. 

182 


TRANSITION    OF    MEDIEVAL    PHILOSOPHY 

as  realist,  and  it  continued  henceforth  throughout  the  whole 
course  of  Scholasticism.  There  began  as  early  as  Abelard  1 
(1079),  an  intermediate  theory  (conceptualism)  as  much 
nominalistic  as  realistic,2  which  after  him  remained  the  domi- 
nant one  (universalia  in  rebus).  In  this  view  the  universal  is 
only  conceived,  only  thought,  but  it  possesses  also  objective 
reality  in  the  things  themselves,  nor  could  it  be  abstracted 
from  them  unless  it  were  virtually  contained  in  them.  All 
the  arguments  of  this  school  are  founded  on  the  assumption, 
that  whatever  is  syllogistically  proved  has  exactly  the  same 
constitution  in  actuality  that  it  has  in  logical  thought. ' ' 

Scholastic  philosophy  aimed  to  fit  the  truths  of  Christian- 
ity, and  Anselm's  doctrine — credo  ut  intellegam  (I  believe 
that  I  may  understand) — is  representative  of  that  philosophy. 
In  his  Proslogium,  he  sets  forth  his  ontological  argument  of 
the  existence  of  God,  which  was  combated  by  Gaunilon  and 
Abelard. 

The  doctrine  of  Aristotle,  which  flourished  among  the 
Arabian  schools,  was  brought  to  Europe  by  the  Arabs  in 
Spain,  in  the  eleventh  century.  From  the  twelfth  century 
until  the  Renaissance,  the  doctrines  of  Aristotle  were  repre- 
sented as  supreme  authority  in  France. 

In  the  thirteenth  century,  the  University  of  Paris  was 
divided  into  two  parties:  the  Thomists  or  partisans  of  the 
philosophy  of  Saint-Thomas  Aquinas2  and  the  Scotists  or 
partisans  of  Duns  Scotus.3  Aquinas  reproduced  Aristotle's 
philosophy  as  he  interpreted  it  from  the  Latin  translations 
made  from  the  Arabian.  His  doctrine  was  such  an  harmo- 
nious combination  of  reason  and  faith,  that  it  became  the 
theory  officially  taught  in  Catholic  colleges.  Duns  Scotus 


1  Pierre  Abelard,   born  at  Le  Pallet,  near  Nantes,   France,  in  1079, 
d-ed  1142. 

2  Called  the  Doctor  Angelicus  and  the  Doctor  UniversaKs. 

3  Birthplace  uncertain,  Scotland  or  Ireland  (Dunstanburgh  Castle),  in 
"1265  or  1274;  died  in  Cologne.     Dempster  gives  twelve  arguments  why 
Duns  Scotus  was  a  Scotchman.     He  studied  at  Oxford  and  became  a 
Franciscan  friar  and  later  a  professor  of  philosophy  and  Doctor  of  the 
University  of  Paris.    Tradition  says  his  lectures  attracted  thirty  thousand 
students.     His  name  Duns  became  proverbial  for  a  learned  man,  and 
satirically  used  gave  rise  to  the  word  dunce. 

183 


THE    HISTORY   OF   FRENCH   LITERATURE 

opposed  Aquinas,  contending  that  God's  omnipotence  was 
not  limited  by  reason.  The  Dominicans  were  more  inclined 
to  the  Thomists,  the  Franciscans  to  the  Scotists.  This  was  a 
quarrel  in  which  the  clerical  esprit  de  corps  of  the  religious 
orders  was  as  much  a  factor  as  the  astuteness  of  the  philoso- 
phers. On  both  sides  were  produced  revelation,  miracles, 
arguments.  Duns  Scotus,  in  his  defense  of  the  doctrine  of 
the  Immaculate  Conception,  is  said  to  have  refuted  two  hun- 
dred objections  held  by  the  Dominicans  against  this  doctrine. 
His  dialectical  ingenuity  in  this  controversy  won  for  him  the 
title  of  Doctor  Subtilis. 

The  abuse  of  dialectics  and  of  useless  abstractions,  led 
some  philosophical  minds  to  mysticism,  and  some  to  the 
natural  sciences.  Saint  Bonaventure,  surnamed  the  "  Ser- 
aphic Doctor,"  one  of  the  great  theologians  of  the  Middle 
Ages  was  a  mystic,  and  taught  that  truth  could  only  be 
attained  with  the  aid  of  supernatural  favor  Roger  Bacon, 
an  English  monk  living  in  Paris,  was  one  of  the  greatest  repre- 
sentatives of  experimental  science.  On  acount  of  his  great 
learning  and  of  his  inventions,  he  was  called  by  his  admirers, 
the  "  Doctor  Mirabilis, "  but  his  enemies  prosecuted  him  for 
sorcery.  Bacon's  persecution  was  due  to  the  fact  that  he  no 
longer  made  philosophy  entirely  subservient  to  theology,  but 
opposed  clerical  dogma,  insisted  on  the  reformation  of  the 
system  of  teaching,  and  announced  the  reform  of  .science 
and  the  church. 

Philosophy  identified  with  theology,  a  dangerous  alliance, 
resulted  in  the  proclamation  of  two  truths — reason  and 
religion.  Roger  Bacon  and  his  disciple,  William  of  Occam,1 
approached  the  experimental  method,  and  they  have  sometimes 
been  called  the  precursors  of  critical  philosophy,2  and  some- 
times of  empiricism.3  Jean  Buridan,  like  his  master  Occam, 
was  a  nominalist,  but  inclined  to  determinism,4  and  to  repre- 

1  Born  in  England  1270;  died  at  Munich  in  1347;  doctor  of  philoo- 
ophy  and  theology  in  Paris;  was  called  the  Doctor  Invinciblis  and  Sin- 
gularis. 

2  Analysis  of  reason.     Kant  was  the  founder  of  critical  philosophy. 

J  Method  relying  on  direct  experience  and  observation  rather  than  on 
theory.     John  Locke  was  the  originator  of  empiricism. 
•  The  doctrine  that  will  is  determined  by  motives. 

184 


TRANSITION    OF    MEDIEVAL    PHILOSOPHY 

sent  causeless  motivation  of  the  will  as  a  deception.  It  was 
he  who,  in  a  discussion  on  free  will,  used  the  famous  sophism 
of  the  ass,  placed  between  a  bushel  of  oats  and  a  bucket  of 
water,  and  dying  of  hunger  through  eternal  indecision  which 
to  satisfy  first,  his  thirst  or  his  hunger.  This  argument,  which 
made  him  more  famous  than  his  writings,  cannot  be  found  in 
any  of  his  works,  and  is  supposed  to  be  a  souvenir  of  his  oral 
recitations. 

The  change  from  scholasticism — philosophy  subservient 
to  religion — to  modern  philosophy — independent  reason — 
was  affected  by  the  growth  of  science,  and  the  great  revolu- 
tions in  that  field  (Copernicus,1  Galileo,2  Kepler3);  by  the 
revival,  with  the  Renaissance  movement,  of  letters,  and  of  all 
the  ancient  systems  of  philosophy:  Platonism,4  Neoplato- 
ism,5  Peripateticism,6  Pythagoricism,7  Skepticism,8  Epicure- 
anism,9 Stoicism,10  and  Mysticism.11 

The  modern  period  of  philosophy,  shows  a  sharp  opposi- 
tion to  the  mediaeval.  Scientific  inquiry  turned  the  thoughts 
of  men  to  the  contemplation  of  nature,  and  this  led  to  the 
independent  reasoning  of  the  individual,  and  consequent 
emancipation  from  established  authority,  and  finally,  to  Skep- 

1  A  Prussian,  the  founder  of  modern  astronomy  (1473-1543).  He  ad- 
vanced the  theory  that  the  planets  revolved  around  the  sun. 

I  A  famous  Italian  astronomer  and  physicist  (1564-1642). 
3  A  famous  German  astronomer  (1571-1630). 

•  Doctrine   of    Plato,    a    famous    Greek    philosopher,    disciple    of    So- 
crates, teacher  of  Aristotle,  and  founder  of  the  Academic  School,  fifth 
century. 

•  Philosophy  originating  with  Ammonius  Saccas  in  Alexandria  in  the 
third  century. 

9  The  philosophy  of  Aristotle  taught  in  the  walks  of  the  Lyceum  at 
Athens  (from  peripatetic — walking  about). 

T  Doctrine  of  Pythagoras,  a  Greek  philosopher  and  mathematician, 
sixth  century,  B.C. 

8  Also  Pyrrhonism,  a  school  of  philosophy  founded  by  Pyrrho,  a  Greek 
philosopher,  third  century,  B.C. 

•  Doctrine  of  the  Greek  philosopher  Epicurus,  fourth  century,  B.C. 

10  School  of  philosophy  founded  by  Zeno,  a  Greek  philosopher,  third 
century,  B.C. 

II  A  sort  of  rationalistic  philosophy  of  magic  evolved  from  the  union  of 
the  first  discoveries  in  physics  and  the  traditions  of  the  Kabbala  (a  mystic 
philosophy  of  the  Hebrew  religion). 

185 


THE    HISTORY    OP    FRENCH   LITERATURE 

ticism.  Francis  Bacon 1  and  Descartes,2  the  founders  of 
modern  philosophy,  were  skeptics. 

Descartes  introduced  a  new  method  in  the  application  of 
reason  to  metaphysics.  He  inaugurated  the  modern  reaction 
by  doing  away  with  all  prejudices  and  all  presuppositions, 
by  doubting  everything  he  could,  in  order  to  see  what  refused 
to  be  doubted,  leaving  a  starting  point.  The  fundamental 
principle  of  his  philosophy  is  cogito  ergo  sum  (I  think,  there- 
fore I  am).  He  started  with  this  fundamental  proposition 
and  used  it  as  a  criterion  for  establishing  other  truths.  These 
were  his  innate  ideas.  From  the  general,  he  deduced  the 
particular,  looking  to  mathematical  science  for  his  method 
and  precision.  His  method,  which,  in  its  entirety,  is  known 
as  Cartesianism,  is  summed  up  thus:  "  To  attain  the  truth 
one  must,  once  in  his  life,  free  himself  from  all  received 
opinions,  and  reconstruct  anew,  and  from  the  bottom,  all 
the  system  of  his  knowledge."  From  Descartes 's  philosophy, 
resulted  the  antithesis  of  "  being  "  and  "  thought,"  to  this 
day  the  task  of  philosophy. 

Bacon  likewise  banished  prejudices  and  dogma,  but  dif- 
fered diametrically  from  Descartes  in  his  method:  "  Ob- 
serve Nature,  let  Nature  write  her  own  record  on  the  mind — 
all  knowledge  arises  out  of  experience. ' '  His  is  the  inductive 
method;  by  establishing  the  particular,  he  arrives  at  the 
general  truths.  Thus  both  the  French  and  English  schools 
started  in  revolt  against  medievalism  and  dogma;  but  one 
system  seized  upon  the  essential  activity  of  the  mind,  the 
other  upon  the  assumption  that  the  mind  is  passive. 

Descartes 's  teachings  influenced  the  trend  of  thought  dur- 
ing the  seventeenth  century,  and  governed  the  intellectual 
world;  people  satisfied  themselves  by  saying  "  The  master 
has  said  it."  Cartesianism  is  presented  complete  in  the  four 
principal  works  of  Descartes:  First  The  Discours  de  la 
Methode  (pour  bien  conduire  la  raison  et  ckercher  la  verite 
dans  les  sciences),  published  in  French,  in  1637;  second,  the 

1  Baron  of  Verulam  and  Viscount  of  St.  Albans,  was  born  in  London  in 
1561,  died  at  Highgate  in  1626. 

7  Rene"  Descartes  (Latinized  Renatus  Cartesius)  was  born  at  La  Haye, 
in  Touraine,  in  1596,  and  that  town  now  glories  in  the  name  of  La  Haye- 
Descartes. 

186 


Meditations  Philosophiques — a  masterpiece  in  research,  as 
well  as  in  dialectics ;  third,  Les  Principes;  fourth,  Le  Traite 
de  I'Ame — which  represented  a  psychology  more  distinct  and 
more  realistic  than  anything  attempted  up  to  that  time,  and 
whence  the  famous  Ethics  of  Spinoza  1  was  to  proceed.  Des- 
cartes was  one  of  the  foremost  mathematicians  of  his  day. 
His  Geometry  was  considered  a  standard. 

Descartes  also  rejected  the  superannuated  formulas  and 
the  language  of  scholasticism,  and  made  his  doctrine  acces- 
sible to  all  by  editing  a  course  of  philosophy  according  to 
his  principles  as  an  accompaniment  to  the  course  taught  in 
schools.  He  undertook,  likewise,  in  the  form  of  a  dialogue, 
a  popular  exposition  of  the  thoughts  set  forth  in  his  Discours. 
In  doing  this,  he  not  only  furthered  the  propagation  of  his 
ideas,  but  assisted  in  the  formation  of  the  French  language; 
and  it  was  Descartes  who  created  for  the  French  a  philosophic 
language  capable  of  expressing  the  profoundest  meditations. 
His  Discours  de  la  Methode  is  the  first  work  written  through- 
out in  the  grand  style  of  the  seventeenth  century. 

1  Baruch  Spinoza,  born  in  Amsterdam  in  1632,  died  1677.     He  was  the 
great  modern  expounder  of  Pantheism. 


CHAPTER   XIV 

PORT-ROYAL 

IN  1204,  a  convent  was  founded  by  Mahaut  de  Garlande, 
in  the  valley  of  Chevreuse,  on  the  domain  of  Porrois.  A  papal 
bull,  in  designating  the  abbey,  used  the  phrase  de  portu  regio, 
corrupted  into  Porrois,  from  which  the  term  Port-Royal  be- 
came officially  recognized.  In  the  beginning  of  the  seven- 
teenth century,  the  Abbess  Angelique  Arnauld,  undertook  to 
reform  the  religious  order  of  this  abbey,1  and  introduced  the 
severe  principles  of  Jansenius.2  Duvergier  de  Hauranne, 
the  abbot  of  Saint-Cyran,  became  the  spiritual  adviser  of  this 
religious  order,  and  founded  the  society  of  Solitaires  de  Port- 
Royal — a  Jansenist  community — at  Chevreuse.  Although 
possessed  of  great  erudition  and  eminent  talent  as  a  writer, 
the  abbot  of  Saint-Cyran  was  content  to  lower  himself  to  the 
level  of  the  humblest  intelligence,  in  order  to  teach  the  ele- 
mentary truths  of  religion.  To  profound  wisdom,  he  added 
a  powerful  eloquence  which  Richelieu  considered  "  more 
dangerous  than  six  armies." 

At  this  time,  a  great  number  of  Catholics  maintained 
that  there  had  been  introduced  into  the  discipline  of  the 
Church  certain  abuses  contrary  to  the  spirit  of  the  Gospel. 
These  Catholics  denied  the  absolute  power  of  the  popes,  and 
accused  the  Jesuits  of  lax  morality  and  of  aspiring  to  univer- 
sal domination.  Jansenius  and  de  Hauranne  undertook  to 
combat  these  conditions  and  to  revive  the  "  Augustinian 
tenets  upon  the  inability  of  the  fallen  will,  and  upon  effica- 
cious grace."  Jansenius  reduced  to  the  form  of  doctrine  the 
principles  of  the  new  reform,  in  a  work  which  he  entitled 

1  In  1626  this  order  established  another  convent  of  Port-Royal  in  Paris. 

2  Cornells  Jansen,  or  Jansenius  (1585-1638),  Bishop  of  Ypres,  in  Flanders, 
a  Dutch  Roman  Catholic  theologian,  founder  of  Jansenism. 

188 


PORT-ROYAL 

Augustinus,  because  he  claimed  to  have  based  all  his  argu- 
ments on  the  text  of  Saint  Augustine.  This  famous  work  caused 
impassioned  religious  controversies  during  the  entire  century. 
The  Jesuits,  already  at  odds  with  Port-Royal,  accused  Jan- 
senius  of  having  reproduced  the  doctrines  of  Calvin  on  pre- 
destination, and  denounced  the  work,  which  was  condemned 
by  Pope  Urban  VIII.  Commissioners,  to  examine  the  book 
of  Jansenius,  were  appointed,  who,  after  long  researches, 
extracted  the  "  five  propositions,"  which  have  become  so 
famous.  These  propositions  are  not  formulated  in  so  many 
words  in  the  Augustinus,  but  according  to  Bossuet,  are  the 
very  soul  of  the  book.  The  following  are  the  five  proposi- 
tions: First:  Some  of  God's  commandments  are  impossible 
to  the  just  who  wish  to  observe  them,  and  to  that  end  exert 
all  their  strength.  Second  :  In  the  state  of  fallen  nature,  in- 
terior grace  is  never  resisted.  Third :  In  the  state  of  fallen 
nature  as  to  merit  or  demerit,  man  need  not  enjoy  liberty 
without  necessity;  it  is  enough  for  him  to  be  free  from  any 
coercion.  Fourth :  The  Semipelagians 1  admitted  the  necessi- 
ty of  antecedent  grace  for  all  good  works,  even  for  the  begin- 
ning of  faith;  but  they  were  heretics,  because  they  said  that 
man's  will  could  submit  to  grace  or  resist  it.  Fifth:  It  is 
a  Semipelagian  error  to  say  that  Christ  died  for  all  men. 
From  these  propositions  was  evolved  the  doctrine  that  free- 
dom of  will  was  nonexistent,  and  that  Christ  did  not  die 
for  all  men,  but  only  for  the  predestined.  This  was  pushing 
the  doctrine  of  grace  to  a  point  of  resemblance  with  the  fatal- 
ism of  Calvin. 

The  question  of  divine  grace  agitated  all  the  thinkers  of 
the  seventeenth  century.     One  finds  its  trace  in  the  tragedies 

1  Disciples  of  Cassianus,  of  Faustus,  Bishop  of  Riez,  and  other  theologians 
of  the  Gallican  Church  in  the  fifth  century  who  wished  to  conciliate  the 
orthodox  opinions  of  Augustinus  with  Pelagianism.  Pelagianism,  the 
doctrine  of  Pelagius  (British  monk  of  fifth  century),  propagated  in  Africa 
by  his  disciple  Celestinus,  is  summed  up  as  follows:  Adam's  fall  from 
grace  affected  him  alone;  every  man  will  always  be  born  innocent  as 
Adam  was  before  his  fall;  death  is  not  the  consequence  of  sin,  but  of  the 
natural  order;  it  lies  in  everyone's  power  to  attain  salvation  by  following 
the  teachings  of  Christ.  The  Pelagian  believed  that  man  is  "morally 
well,"  the  Semipelagians  that  he  is  "morally  sick,"  and  Saint  Augustine, 
that  he  is  "morally  dead." 

189 


THE    HISTORY   OF    FRENCH   LITERATURE 

of  Corneille  and  Racine,  and  in  the  letters  of  Madame  de 
Sevigne.  The  Solitaires  of  Port-Royal  devoted  the  greater 
part  of  their  lives  to  its  discussion.  Jansenius  maintained 
further  that  ecclesiastical  jurisdiction  belongs  to  the  whole 
church,  arid  that  it  should  be  exercised  not  only  by  the  Holy 
See,  but  by  councils — a  kind  of  Christian  Parliament,  in 
which  the  popes  have  only  the  right  of  presidency.1 

The  five  propositions  were  submitted  to  Pope  Innocent  X, 
and  after  two  years  of  discussion  were  condemned  by  the 
papal  bull,  Cum  occasione  impressionis  libri.  The  Church  of 
France  was  divided  between  the  Jansenists  and  their  oppo- 
nents, the  latter  led  principally  by  the  'Jesuits  After  the 
imprisonment  of  Saint-Cyran  2  by  Richelieu,  Antoine  Arnauld, 
the  celebrated  controversialist,  called  "  the  great  Arnauld," 
became  the  head  of  the  Jansenists.  In  the  society  of  the  So- 
litaires there  were  many  distinguished  scholars,  theologians, 
and  moralists:  Lemaistre  de  Sacy,  Lancelot,  Nicole,  Nicolas 
Fontaine,  Singlin,  De  Sericourt,  Arnauld  d'Andilly,  and 
others.  These  men  lived  on  a  farm  called  Les  Granges,  de- 
pendent on  the  abbey.  They  were  not  bound  by  any  vow  or 
united  among  themselves  by  any  rule.  They  utilized  their 
time  acording  to  their  capacities.  The  great  Arnauld  (An- 
toine) was  the  invincible,  uncompromising,  never  failing 
scholar  of  them  all.  His  friend  Nicole,  told  him  one  day, 
that  he  (Nicole)  was  exhausted,  and  that  at  last  he  wished 
to  rest  from  his  long  labors.  "  You,  rest!  "  Arnauld  said 
to  him.  "  Well,  will  you  not  have  all  eternity  to  rest  in  "  ? 
Nicole  taught  philosophy  and  the  humanities,  and  became  one 
of  the  most  distinguished  professors  of  the  Petites  Ecoles 
(little  schools),  opened  by  the  Solitaires  for  the  instruction 
of  the  young,  and  where  Racine  was  a  student. 

Arnauld  and  Nicole  spread  reform  by  means  of  their 
writings.  Nicole's  famous  Essais  de  morale,  were  called  by 

1  The  Gallican  doctrine  does  not  place  infallibility  (which  means  that  the 
Pope  is  divinely  guarded  from  all  errors  in  questions  of  faith  and  morals), 
in  the  Pope  alone,  but  in  the  entire  episcopal  body  united  to  its  chief; 
whereas  the  ultramontanes  consider  the  Pope  to  be  the  authority  of  all 
jurisdiction  in  the  Church,  and  superior  to  the  councils. 

2  In  1638  Saint-Cyran  was  confined  in  the  dungeon  of  St.  Vincent  until 
1643,  the  year  of  his  death. 

190 


PORT-ROYAL 

Voltaire  a  masterpiece.  Madame  de  Sevigne  wrote  about  them 
to  her  daughter:  "  I  am  reading  again  his  (Nicole's)  great 
book.  I  should  like  to  make  it  into  a  bouillon  in  order  to 
swallow  it."  Often  the  Solitaires  left  their  studious  occupa- 
tions, and,  turning  to  manual  labor,  became  wine-growers,  la- 
borers, gardeners,  cobblers,  carpenters.  M.  de  la  Riviere,  an 
old  and  distinguished  soldier,  protected  the  forests  of  Port- 
Royal,  and  passed  his  time  there  praying,  reading,  and  medi- 
tating. The  famous  duelist,  M.  de  la  Petitiere,  made  shoes  for 
the  nuns ;  the  Baron  de  Pontchateau  was  a  gardener,  and  Le 
Maistre  cut  wheat  with  the  day  laborers.  This  society,  com- 
posed of  men  of  all  conditions,  formed  without  civil  or  reli- 
gious obligations,  obeying  no  common  chief,  lived  in  the  most 
perfect  harmony.  Lords  and  ladies  of  the  court — people  who 
aspired  the  same  repose  without  wishing  to  renounce  entirely 
their  visits  to  the  world — came  to  establish  themselves  about 
the  abbey  and  Les  Granges:  the  Duchess  de  Longueville,  the 
Duchess  de  Luynes,  the  Duchess  de  Liancourt,  Madame  de 
Sevigne,  the  Prince  de  Conti,  brother  of  the  great  Conde. 
It  is  said  of  him  that  after  his  conversion  he  showed  such  a 
submission  to  divine  will,  that  it  almost  frightened  his  fam- 
ily ;  and  that  his  children  hid  the  story  of  Abraham  from  him, 
fearing  lest  he  might  at  length  wish  to  imitate  the  sacrifice 
of  Isaac. 

The  Jansenists  were  supported  by  the  majority  of  the 
members  of  Parliament,1  by  some  bishops,  and  men  of  high 
rank  and  talent,  but  they  were  assailed  by  the  Sorbonne,  and 
struggled  against  the  attacks  of  the  Jesuits.  Hence  arose,  in 
1656,  the  celebrated  Lettres  Provinciales  of  Pascal.  The  suc- 
cess of  the  Provinciales  secured  to  the  Jansenists  the  favor 
of  public  opinion,  and  delayed  their  fall.  The  respite 
accorded  them,  however,  was  not  long,  and  Port-Royal  was 
approaching  its  destruction  when  it  was  saved  by  an  extra- 
ordinary personage — the  Duchess  de  Longueville  (Anne  Ge- 
nevieve  de  Bourbon-Conde,  of  royal  blood),  heroine  of  the 
Fronde,  born  in  the  prison  of  Vincennes  in  1619.  After 
the  peace  of  the  Fronde,  she  saw  herself  abandoned  by  the 

1  Parlement,  before  1789,  a  court  of  superior  judicature  which  judged 
without  appeal. 

191 


THE    HISTORY    OF    FRENCH   LITERATURE 

world,  and  threw  herself  into  the  arms  of  religion  with  all 
the  ardor  which  she  had  formerly  shown  for  polities  or  for 
romantic  adventures.  She  took  M.  de  Sacy  as  instructor, 
and  submitted  herself  to  his  severe  counsels  with  great  docil- 
ity.1 When  the  time  of  persecution  came  for  Port-Royal, 
she  was  active  in  the  service  of  the  Solitaires.  She  concealed 
in  her  home  Arnauld  and  Nicole,  and  their  eccentricities  some- 
times added  to  her  penitence.  For  example:  the  great  Ar- 
nauld carried  good  comradeship  and  freedom  from  convention- 
ality even  to  the  point  of  taking  off  his  garters  in  the  evening, 
while  sitting  by  the  fireplace  in  the  presence  of  the  Princess; 
"  which  made  her  suffer  a  little,"  says  Madame  de  Se- 
vigne.  After  two  years  of  effort  and  negotiations,  Madame 
de  Longueville  succeeded  in  triumphing  over  the  Pope, 
Louis  XIV,  and  the  Jesuits.  Port-Royal  obtained  permission 
to  repeople  its  monastery,  to  reopen  its  schools  and  reunite 
its  scattered  Solitaires  (1668).  The  same  virtues,  the  same 
piety,  the  same  austerities  were  renewed.  But  with  the  death 
of  the  Princess  in  1679,  disappeared  the  only  protector  of  the 
Jansenists  in  favor  with  Louis  XIV,  who  regarded  Port  Royal 
with  ill-will.  After  a  series  of  persecutions  the  society  was 
forcibly  dissolved  toward  the  end  of  this  reign.  A  bull  of  the 
Pope  suppressed  the  monastery,  and  the  King  caused  the 
house,  the  church,  and  the  farm  of  Les  Granges,  as  well  as  the 
neighboring  habitations  to  be  destroyed  (1710).  The  influence 
of  Port-Royal  continued,  and  Jansenism 2  had  some  adherents 
in  France  until  the  nineteenth  century 

The  history  of  Port-Royal  is  important  in  the  literary  his- 
tory of  the  seventeenth  century,  for  this  celebrated  period 
included  within  its  scope  men  eminent  both  by  their  genius 
and  their  virtues,  and  produced  works  on  religion,  morality, 
logic,  and  grammar,  which  exercised  a  powerful  influence, 
religious  and  literary,  upon  this  memorable  epoch.  But  the 
inflexible,  unpitying  doctrines  of  the  Solitaires  in  regard  to 
grace  and  predestination  elicited  the  following  from  Bos- 

1  "The  true  crown  of  Madame  de  Longueville,"  says  Sainte-Beuve, 
"  which  we  must  all  the  more  revere  in  her  in  so  far  as  she  did  not  per- 
ceive it,  in  so  far  as  she  covered  it,  as  it  were,  with  her  hands,  in  so  far 
as  she  lowered  it  and  hid  it — is  the  crown  of  humility." 

2  At  the  present  day  Jansenism  is  continued  in  Holland. 

192 


PORT-ROYAL 

suet,  although  sharing  many  of  their  views:  "  they  are  men 
who  hold  men's  consciences  captive  under  very  unjust  rigors, 
who  can  endure  no  weakness,  who  always  drag  hell  behind 
them,  who  cause  virtue  to  appear  too  severe,  the  Gospel  ex- 
cessive, Christianity  impossible." 

PASCAL 

Blaise  Pascal,  born  at  Clermont  in  1623,  was  one  of  the 
greatest  French  writers  and  philosophers.  He  was  also  an 
illustrious  mathematician  and  physicist.  At  the  age  of  twelve 
he  is  said  to  have  formulated  without  the  help  of  any  book 
Euclid 's  thirty-second  proposition  in  geometry ;  at  sixteen,  he 
wrote  a  treatise  on  conic  sections  which  surprised  Descartes; 
when  eighteen,  he  invented  a  calculating  machine.  We  owe  to 
him  the  laws  of  the  specific  gravity  of  the  air,  the  equilibrium 
of  liquids,  the  arithmetical  triangle,  and  the  calculation  of 
probabilities,  the  principle  of  the  hydraulic  press,  and  the  the- 
ory of  the  cycloid.  He  was  a  profound  moralist,  a  subtle  and 
vigorous  dialectician,  a  great  orator,  and  finally,  a  great  poet 
in  the  Pensees,  because  of  an  imagination  now  somber  and 
tragic,  now  inspired  by  faith  and  illumined  by  hope.  Des- 
cartes had  created  the  philosophic  language  and  style;  but 
eloquent  philosophy,  without  ceasing  to  be  really  philosophic, 
dates  from  Pascal.  He  held  that  no  system  of  philosophy 
solves  the  enigma  of  life,  because  every  system  perceives  but 
one  side  of  our  nature,  and  all  systems  destroy  one  another: 
nature  puzzles  the  Pyrrhonists  and  reason  puzzles  the  dog- 
matists. One  day,  at  the  bridge  of  Neuilly,  Pascal  was  the 
victim  of  a  runaway  accident,  as  a  result  of  which,  it  is  said, 
he  had  hallucinations  which  often  made  him  see  an  abyss 
beside  him  ready  to  engulf  him.  He  retired  to  Port-Royal, 
where  he  lived  an  ascetic  life. 

In  consequence  of  a  dispute  between  Arnauld  and  the 
Jesuits  on  the  questions  de  facto  et  de  jure  in  the  proposi- 
tions contained  in  the  Augustinus,  Arnauld  was  condemned 
by  the  Sorbonne.  Blaise  Pascal,  at  the  solicitations  of  his 
friends  accepted  the  task  of  publicly  defending  Port-Royal 
against  the  Jesuits,  and  published,  from  1656  to  1657,  eighteen 
anonymous  letters,  the  comprehensive  title  of  which  is  Lettres 
14  193 


THE    HISTORY   OF    FRENCH   LITERATURE 

ecrites  par  Louis  de  Montalte  a  un  Provincial  de  ses  amis  et 
aux  Reverends  Peres  Jesuites  sur  le  sujet  de  la  Morale  et  de  la 
Politique  de  ces  Peres  (Letters  written  by  Louis  de  Montalte 
to  one  of  his  friends  in  the  Provinces,  and  to  the  Reverend 
Jesuit  Fathers,  on  the  subject  of  the  Morals  and  the  Politics 
of  these  Fathers).  In  the  first  Provinciale,  Pascal  treats  the 
difficult  question  of  grace.  Beginning  with  the  fourth  letter, 
he  carries  the  fight  against  the  Jesuits  on  another  ground. 
Nevertheless,  this  masterpiece,  which  fixed  the  French  lan- 
guage and  has  remained  an  inimitable  model,  was  not  a  work 
of  predilection  on  the  part  of  Pascal.  He  was  silently  pre- 
paring the  materials  for  a  great  work  which  would  demon- 
strate the  truth  and  the  greatness  of  Christianity,  but  which 
death  did  not  permit  him  to  finish,  and  whose  scattered  ele- 
ments, published  under  the  title  of  Pensees,  sufficed  to  assure 
for  their  author  the  admiration  of  posterity. 

The  crude  memoranda  of  Pascal's  Pensees  are  to-day  in 
the  Bibliotheque  Nationale  of  Paris,  open  to  the  public.  Care- 
fully pasted  on  sheets  of  paper,  they  are  bound  in  one  volume, 
which  is  one  of  the  most  curious  of  that  wonderful  collection. 
It  is  due  to  the  work  of  Cousin,  Faugere,  Sainte-Beuve,  Astie, 
and  Havet,  that  the  plan  which  inspired  Pascal  to  make  the 
detached  sketches  was  brought  to  light. 

We  recall  "  the  abyss  of  Pascal  "  (in  allusion  to  the  run- 
away accident  mentioned  above),  in  order  to  characterize  cer- 
tain social  or  moral  problems  which  frighten  by  their  depth 
those  who  seek  to  sound  them.  "  The  grain  of  sand  "  of 
Pascal,  in  the  Pensees  (an  allusion  to  Cromwell's  death),  has 
become  an  original  locution  to  express  the  idea  that  minute 
causes  can  engender  great  results.  Here  are  a  few  extracts 
from  the  Pensees: 

"  Thus  all  our  life  passes.  We  seek  rest  while  combating 
some  obstacles ;  and  if  we  have  surmounted  them  rest  becomes 
unbearable." 

"  We  are  sometimes  better  corrected  by  the  sight  of  evil 
than  by  the  example  of  good ;  and  it  is  well  to  accustom  one- 
self to  profit  by  the  bad,  since  it  is  so  common,  while  the 
good  is  so  rare. ' ' 

"  For,  finally,  what  is  man  in  nature?  A  Nothing  in  re- 
gard to  the  Infinite,  a  Whole  in  regard  to  nothing,  a  medium 

194 


PORT-ROYAL 

between  nothing  and  all.  Infinitely  far  from  understanding 
the  extremes,  the  end  of  things  and  the  principle  of  them  are 
invincibly  hidden  from  him  in  an  impenetrable  secret ;  equally 
incapable  of  seeing  the  Nothing  whence  he  is  drawn  and  the 
Infinite  in  which  he  is  engulfed. ' ' 


CHAPTER   XV 

THE  CLASSIC  FRENCH  SCHOOL 

WITH  the  advent  of  such  masters  as  Racine,  Boileau, 
Moliere,  and  La  Fontaine,  French  literature,  from  being 
precieuse,  burlesque,  and  courtly,  became  classical,1  a  term 
used  with  different  acceptations,  but  which  means  here  a 
combination  of  rationalism  with  a  sense  of  the  aesthetic.  The 
classical  period  embraces  two  centuries,  and  has  produced  the 
greatest  works  the  French  possess. 

RACINE 

'Jean  Racine  was  born  in  1639,  at  La  Ferte-Milon.  Or- 
phaned at  the  age  of  four,  he  was  under  the  guardianship  of  a 
grandmother  and  aunt,  both  ardent  Jansenists,  who  sent  him 
to  Port-Royal,  where  he  was  reared  under  the  influence  and 
care  of  Le  Maistre,  Nicole,  Hamon,  and  Lancelot.  Racine 
showed  from  his  earliest  years  a  very  strong  taste  for  poetry, 
and  especially  for  the  tragic  poets.  Often  he  was  lost  in  the 
forests  of  the  abbey  with  a  copy  of  Euripides  in  his  hand. 
His  greed  for  knowledge  took  him  everywhere  in  search  of 
books,  which  he  pored  over  in  secret.  The  Greek  romance 
of  the  loves  of  Theagenes  and  Chariclea  fell  into  his  hands. 
He  was  reading  it  eagerly,  when  Claude  Lancelot,  "  le  chef 
de  la  secte  hellenique,"  caught  him  in  the  act,  tore  the  book 
from  him  and  threw  it  into  the  fire.  A  second  copy  met  the 
same  fate.  Racine  bought  a  third ;  in  order  to  insure  its  con- 

1  In  the  Nodes  Atticae  of  Aulus  Gellius  the  word  dassicus  is  applied  to 
writers  of  distinction  and  merit.  The  most  remarkable  classical  epochs 
of  literature  are:  the  centuries  of  Pericles,  of  Augustus,  of  Leo  X  (or  de 
Medici),  and  of  Louis  XIV. 

196 


THE    CLASSIC    FRENCH    SCHOOL 

tents  from  the  flames,  he  learned  it  by  heart  and  carried  it  to 
Lancelot  saying:  "  You  may  burn  this  one  like  the  others."  , 
Port-Royal  intended  that  their  pupil  should  be  a  lawyer ;  but 
scarcely  had  Racine  finished  his  course  in  philosophy  at 
the  college  of  Harcourt  (to-day  the  Lycee  Saint-Louis),  when 
he  entered  the  literary  world  with  an  ode  on  the  marriage 
of  the  King.  This  poem,  entitled  La  Nymphe  de  la  Seine 
(on  the  marriage  of  Louis  XIV  with  Marie-Therese) , 
brought  him,  by  recommendation  of  Chapelain,  a  gift  of 
one  hundred  louis  and  a  pension  of  six  hundred  livres  with 
the  title  of  homme  de  lettres.  This  was  a  public  scandal  in 
the  eyes  of  the  Solitaires  of  Port-Royal  who  had  vainly 
warned  him  by  letter  and  threats  of  excommunication  to  stop 
writing. 

In  order  to  turn  the  young  man  aside  from  poetry,  he  was 
led  to  hope  for  a  benefice,  and  was  sent  to  Uzes  to  his  uncle, 
the  vicar  Antoine  Sconin,  who  set  him  to  studying  theology ; 
but  his  true  vocation  conquered  and  he  returned  to  Paris. 
In  1662  he  composed  a  piece  sur  la  convalescence  du  roi, 
which  gained  for  him  a  presentation  at  court.  Les  Freres 
Ennemis,  composed  at  Uzes,  was  produced  and  met  with  some 
success;  but  much  more  successful  was  Alexandre,  given  in 
1665,  when  Racine  was  twenty-five  years  old.  At  Paris  he 
sought  and  obtained  illustrious  and  useful  friendships  with 
La  Fontaine,  Boileau,  and  Moliere.  This  was  the  epoch  when 
the  four  friends  met  at  the  fashionable  cabarets,  where  men 
of  letters,  such  as  Chapelle,  Furetiere,  and  the  great  lords,  the 
Dukes  de  Vivonne,  de  Nantouillet,  and  others  eagerly  sought 
their  society.  Racine's  relations  with  Moliere  were  of  brief 
duration ;  but  while  ceasing  to  be  intimate,  the  mutual  esteem 
of  these  two  great  men  was  undimmished.  The  friendship 
of  Boileau  and  Racine  remained  unchanged  during  forty 
years.  At  first  Racine  was  only  a  successful  imitator  of 
Corneille;  the  beautiful  passages  of  La  Theba'ide  and  of 
Alexandre  may  be  characterized  as  strong  impressions  pro- 
duced by  great  models  on  a  young  man  destined,  in  his  turn, 
to  become  a  master  of  his  art.  It  was  in  writing  Andromaque 
(1667)  that  Racine  found  himself.  He  had  just  caused 
Alexandre  to  be  played  when  he  became  the  friend  of  Boileau, 
three  years  older  than  himself,  who  had  already  published 

197 


THE    HISTORY   OF   FRENCH   LITERATURE 

several  of  his  own  satires.  "  I  have  a  surprising  facility  in 
making  my  verses,"  the  young  tragic  author  naively  said. 
"  I  wish  to  teach  you  to  make  them  with  difficulty,"  answered 
Boileau,  "  and  you  have  enough  talent  to  learn  soon." 

Andromaque  was  the  result  of  this  new  effort,  and  the 
true  debut  of  Racine.  He  was  henceforth  irrevocably  com- 
promised in  the  cause  of  the  stage.  Nicole,  while  attacking 
Desmarets,  wrote  with  all  the  rigor  of  Port-Royal :  ' '  A  maker 
of  romances  and  a  theatrical  poet  are  public  poisoners,  not 
of  bodies  but  of  souls."  Racine  in  defense  of  dramatic  art 
wrote  two  letters  which  were  so  bitter,  so  incisive,  and  so  in- 
sulting to  Port-Royal,  that  Boileau  prevented  him  from 
publishing  the  second.  In  1668  he  staged  Les  Plaideurs, 
which  had  been  requested  of  him  by  his  friends,  and  partly 
composed  during  the  repasts  they  often  had  in  common  in 
the  famous  cabaret  of  the  Mouton  blanc.  "  I  put  into  it," 
said  Racine,  "  only  a  few  barbarous  words  of  the  chicanery 
I  remembered  in  a  suit  at  law,  which  neither  I  nor  my  judges 
have  ever  well  understood."  Les  Plaideurs,  composed  of 
reminiscences  partly  from  the  ' '  Wasps, ' '  by  Aristophanes 
and  partly  from  Racine's  own  lawsuit  when  he  was  prior  of 
Epinay,  is  an  amusing  satire  of  life  in  the  law  courts ;  of  the 
judges,  ridiculed  in  the  characteristics  of  Perrin  Dandin;  of 
the  litigants,  personified  in  Chicaneau  and  the  Countess  of 
Pimbesche;  of  the  lawyers,  characterized  in  Petit- Jean  and 
1'Intime,  who  in  their  pleadings,  give  way  to  bombastic  and 
pedantic  eloquence.  After  the  first  failure  of  the  play,  the 
royal  players  one  day  risked  a  performance  before  the  King. 
Louis  XIV  was  struck  by  it,  and  believed  that  he  did  not 
dishonor  his  dignity  or  his  taste  by  bursts  of  laughter  so  great 
that  the  courtiers  were  astonished.  The  delighted  players, 
on  leaving  Versailles,  returned  straight  to  Paris,  and  went 
to  awaken  Racine.  Three  coaches  coming  in  the  night,  in  a 
street  where  coaches  are  rarely  seen  at  any  time,  awakened 
the  neighborhood.  People  went  to  the  windows  and,  since 
it  was  known  that  a  censor  had  made  a  great  uproar  against 
the  comedy  of  the  Plaideurs,  no  one  doubted  in  the  least  that 
the  poet  who  had  dared  to  ridicule  the  judges  in  the  public 
theater  would  be  punished.  On  the  morrow  all  Paris  believed 
him  to  be  in  prison.  On  the  contrary,  he  triumphed  with 

198 


THE    CLASSIC    FRENCH    SCHOOL 

Britanniais1  (1669);  whereupon  the  King  stopped  dancing 
at  the  court  balls  for  fear  of  resembling  Nero. 

Berenice  was  a  contest  between  Corneille  and  Racine  for 
the  entertainment  of  the  Duchess  of  Orleans,  Henrietta  of 
England;  and  Racine  won,  without  much  glory.  Berenice 
was  played  at  the  Hotel  de  Bourgogne  by  a  famous  actress, 
Mademoiselle  Champmesle,  who  also  played  an  important  role 
in  the  life  of  the  great  Racine. 

In  1672  Bajazet  was  represented  and  showed  a  marked 
contrast  with  Berenice;  from  ancient  history  and  Rome,  the 
scene  passed  to  contemporary  history  and  Constantinople. 
Racine's  reputation  was  constantly  growing;  he  had  staged 
Mirthridate  and  Iphigenie.  Phedre  was  produced  in  1677, 
and  an  intrigue  of  the  great  lords  at  first  caused  it  to  fail. 
Pradon,  a  tragic  poet,  who  pretended  to  rival  Racine,  acting 
on  the  advice  of  his  protectors,  composed  a  play  which  was 
to  be  performed  in  opposition  to  the  one  Racine  was  known  to 
be  writing,  and  which  had  Phedre  for  its  subject.  Boileau 
riddled  Pradon  with  his  satire.  A  cabal  had  been  set  in 
motion  to  secure  the  triumph  of  Pradon  and  the  fall  of 
Racine.2  The  plotters,  led  by  the  Duchess  de  Bouillon,  rented 
in  advance  for  several  representations  the  two  theaters  where 
the  two  plays  were  to  be  given.  Pradon 's  play  had  an  im- 
mense audience,  while  Racine's  was  enacted  to  empty  seats. 
However,  from  the  time  the  friends  of  Pradon  ceased  to  pro- 
duce his  play,  the  public  went  in  crowds  to  witness  Racine's 
masterpiece,  but  chagrin  and  wounded  pride  had  done  their 
work  in  the  poet 's  soul :  he  abandoned  dramatic  art  in  the  full 
glory  of  his  career  at  thirty-seven  years  of  age.  He  reconciled 
himself  with  the  pious  Port-Royalists,  and  wished  to  become 
a  Chartreux;  but  his  confessor  turned  him  away  from  his 
design,  and  his  friends  married  him  off  to  Catherine  Romanet. 
Madame  Racine  was  an  excellent  person,  modest  and  devoted, 
but  prosaic,  who  never  went  to  the  theater  and  scarcely  knew 
the  titles  of  her  husband's  plays.  She  brought  him  something 
of  a  fortune.  In  addition  to  this,  the  king  had  given  the  great 

1  Britannicus  is  an  answer  to  the  critics  who  reproached  Racine  for 
writing  only  of  love.     (Although  love  is  not  totally  absent  from  the  play.) 

2  It  has  been  said  that  Racine's  manuscript  was  taken  from  him.     Ra- 
cine had  previously  accused  Pradon  of  plagiarism. 

199 


THE    HISTORY    OF    FRENCH   LITERATURE 

poet  a  pension,  and  Colbert  had  named  him  treasurer  at 
Moulins1  Racine  had  seven  children.  He  devoted  his  life 
to  them  with  pious  solicitude,  but  when  his  children  were  ill, 
he  said  with  the  anxiety  of  paternal  tenderness:  "  Why  did 
I  not  become  a  Chartreux  "?  The  Memoires  of  his  father, 
written  by  his  son  Louis,  depict  Racine  in  all  the  austere 
charm  of  his  domestic  life.  ' '  He  left  everything  to  come  to 
see  us,"  writes  this  filial  biographer.  "  An  equerry  of  the 
duke  came  one  day  to  tell  him  that  he  was  expected  to  dinner 
at  the  home  of  Conde.  '  I  shall  not  have  the  honor  to  go,' 
said  he;  'it  is  more  than  a  week  since  I  have  seen  my  wife 
and  children,  who  are  happy  in  the  anticipation  of  eating  a 
very  fine  carp  with  me  to-day.  I  cannot  help  but  dine  with 
them.'  And  when  the  equerry  insisted,  he  had  the  carp 
brought  in :  '  Judge  for  yourself  if  I  can  disappoint  these 
poor  children  who  have  planned  to  entertain  me,  and  would 
have  no  more  pleasure  if  they  ate  this  dish  without  me.'  ' 
"  He  was  born  tender-hearted,"  adds  Louis  Racine.  "  He 
was  tender  toward  God  when  he  returned  to  Him,  and  from 
the  day  he  went  back  to  those  who,  in  his  childhood,  had 
taught  him  to  know  God,  he  was  tender  toward  them  without 
reserve.  He  was  so  all  his  life  to  his  friends,  to  his  wife  and 
his  children." 

The  duties  of  historiographers  to  the  king,  titles  which 
both  Racine  and  Boileau  received  from  Louis  XIV,  drew  the 
friends  already  so  intimate  into  closer  communion.  Racine 
and  Boileau  were  preparing  to  depart  with  the  king  for  the 
campaign  of  1677;  but  the  besieged  cities  opened  their  gates 
before  the  poets  had  left  Paris.  "  How  is  it  that  you  did 
not  have  the  curiosity  to  see  a  siege?  "  the  king  asked  them 
on  his  return.  ' '  The  trip  was  not  long. "  ' '  It  is  true,  Sire, ' ' 
answered  Racine,  who  always  was  the  more  skillful  courtier 
of  the  two,  "  but  our  tailors  were  too  slow.  We  ordered 
campaigning  clothes;  when  they  brought  them,  the  fortified 
places  which  your  majesty  was  besieging  were  taken."  The 
following  year  they  were  obliged  to  accompany  the  king  on 

1  Louis  XIV  granted  frequent  benefits  to  men  of  letters.  Racine  re- 
ceived almost  fifty  thousand  livres  from  him,  and  was  named  the  his- 
toriographer of  the  king.  Boileau  received  the  same  title. 

200 


THE    CLASSIC    FRENCH    SCHOOL 

his  campaigns,  and  their  awkwardness  on  horse,  their  ignorance 
of  military  things,  called  forth  many  epigrams  and  anecdotes 
at  their  expense.  Finally,  Boileau,  who  suffered  from  ill 
health,  and  was  of  a  morose  disposition,  remained  in  Paris. 
His  friend  wrote  to  him  constantly,  sometimes  from  the  camp, 
sometimes  from  Versailles,  whither  he  returned  with  the  king. 
The  correspondence  of  the  two  friends  have  a  great  literary 
interest. 

After  twelve  years  of  cessation  from  dramatic  work, 
Madame  de  Maintenon  begged  Eacine  to  compose  for  the 
young  ladies  of  Saint-Cyr  "  some  sort  of  moral  or  historical 
poem  from  which  love  might  be  entirely  banished."  His 
compliance  with  this  request  enriched  French  literature  with 
the  delicate  elegy  of  Esther  (1689).  "  Madame  de  Main- 
tenon  was  charmed  with  its  invention  and  execution,"  said 
Madame  de  la  Fayette.  "  The  play  represented,  in  a 
way,  the  fall  of  Madame  de  Montespan  and  Madame  de 
Maintenon 's  own  elevation;  the  difference  being  that  Esther 
was  a  little  younger  and  less  '  precieuse  '  in  point  of  piety." 
The  brilliant  success  of  this  play  inspired  the  poet  to  write 
another  masterpiece,  Athalie  (1691),  drawn  from  the  same 
source.  The  young  ladies  of  Saint-Cyr,  in  the  uniform  of  the 
house,  performed  it  quite  simply  at  Versailles  before  Louis 
XIV  and  Madame  de  Maintenon,  in  a  room  without  a  stage. 
When  the  players  acted  it  in  Paris,  it  was  pronounced  cold 
and  was  not  a  success.  Racine  foresaw  failure,  but  Boileau 
said  to  him :  "  I  am  sure  that  this  is  your  best  work,  the  pub- 
lic will  return  to  it."1  This  beautiful  inspiration  into  which 
the  poet  put  his  heart,  his  intelligence,  his  faith,  and  his  art, 
is  considered  one  of  the  most  perfect  plays.  His  C antiques 
spirituels,  composed  in  1694,  are  called  the  Chant  du  Cygne 
(Song  of  the  Swan),  for  they  were  his  last  verses. 

The  tragedies  of  Racine  may  be  divided  into  three  classes : 
the  first  class  includes  plays  borrowed  from  the  drama  of 
' '  Euripides  " ;  his  historical  tragedies  form  the  second  class ; 
in  the  third  class  are  his  tragedies  inspired  by  the  Bible. 
Madame  de  Maintenon  had  requested  Racine  to  make  a  com- 

1  The  public  did  return  to  it,  but  it  was  fifty  years  later,  after  Racine's 
death. 

201 


THE    HISTORY   OF    FRENCH   LITERATURE 

position  concerned  with  the  misery  of  the  people  as  result- 
ing from  a  prolonged  war — a  memoire  which  she  wished  to 
present  to  Louis  XIV.  But  the  king,  who  allowed  no  com- 
mentaries of  any  sort,  was  discontented  with  the  audacity  of 
Racine — "  who,  because  he  could  make  verses,  imagined  him- 
self able  to  govern  a  State,"  and  he  made  it  plain  that  he 
wished  no  longer  to  see  the  poet.  Racine,  who  sincerely  loved 
the  king,  was  much  affected  by  this  order.  He  was  already 
an  invalid;  his  illness  increased,  and  he  died  a  short  time 
afterwards,  in  1699. 

"  Racine,'*  says  Faguet,  "  is  our  greatest  tragic  author, 
as  Moliere  is  the  greatest  comic  one.  There  has  been  an 
alternation  in  France  between  the  glory  of  Racine  and  that 
of  Corneille,  and,  according  to  the  epoch,  people  prefer  the 
one  and  believe  themselves  obliged  to  disparage  the  other. 
Actually,  Racine  is  the  favorite.  It  is  incontestable  that  he 
at  least  deserves  to  be  called  one  of  the  greatest  French  tragic 
authors,  and  one  of  the  four  or  five  greatest  tragic  writers  of 
all  literature." 

"  Corneille,"  says  Fleury,  "  depicted  persons  who  mas- 
tered their  passions ;  Racine  depicted  those  who  allowed  them- 
selves to  be  governed  by  them.  Instead  of  exciting  admiration 
by  grandeur,  Racine  excited  compassion  for  suffering."  He 
made  himself  the  delineator  of  tender  sentiments,  especially  of 
love ;  he  is  the  painter  of  love,1  such  as  he  conceives  it,  violent, 
impetuous,  jealous,  often  criminal:  "  C'est  Venus  toute  en- 
tiere  a  sa  proie  attachee."2  (Phedre.) 

Larroumet  notes  that  Racine  made  jealousy  the  dominant 
motive  in  four  of  his  plays.  "  The  greatest  misery  which 
love  can  call  forth  is  jealousy.  The  cries  of  rage  which 
Roxane  3  and  Phedre  utter  are  without  equal  in  forcefulness 

1  In  a  poem,  A  Racine,  written  for  the  celebration  of  the  anniversary 
of  Racine's  birth,  at  the  Th^atre-Fransais,  in  1888,  George  Lefevre  calls 
him  Poete  des  amants  (poet  of  lovers).     "This  eternal  question  of  love," 
said  Napoleon,  "with  its  sweetish  tone  and  its  fastidious  background,  was 
the  sole  occupation  of  everybody,  the  lot  of  idle  society.     It  is  therefore 
not  exactly  Racine's  fault  if  his  works  are  impregnated  with  love,  but 
rather  the  fault  of  the  times." 

2  "It  is  Venus  in  her  entirety  clinging  to  her  prey." 

3  "  Bajazet  est  une  grande  tuerie"  (Bajazet  is  a  great  slaughter),  wrote 
Madame  de  SeVigne. 

202 


THE    CLASSIC    FRENCH    SCHOOL 

and  truth.  Roxane  is  the  embodiment  of  jealousy  whom  the 
cause  of  her  deception  instills  with  the  thirst  of  blood: 

Dans  ma  juste  fureur  observant  le  perfide, 

Je  saurai  le  surprendre  avec  son  Atalide 

Et,  d'un  meme  poignard  les  unissant  tous  deux, 

Les  percer  1'un  et  1'autre,  et  moi-meme  apres  eux.1 

(BAJAZET.) 

It  is  the  woman  who  plays  the  principal  role  in  Racine's 
plays ;  one  speaks  of  the  heroines  of  Racine  and  of  the  heroes 
of  Corneille,  for  according  to  Marivaux,  style  has  sex.  La 
Bruyere's  simple  criticism  was:  "  Corneille  is  more  moral, 
Racine  more  natural." 

With  Racine,  indeed,  the  dramatic  motive  was  not  admira- 
tion, but  tenderness.  Thus  he  turns  us  back  upon  ourselves; 
his  art  gains  in  truth  what  it  loses  in  loftiness.  In  spite  of 
the  differences  which  distinguish  him  from  his  predecessor, 
there  is  between  them  a  resemblance  which  their  epoch  im- 
posed on  them.  Both  are  spiritual  in  the  highest  degree; 
both  seek  the  source  of  their  power  exclusively  in  moral 
nature.  They  disdain  or  ignore  the  exterior  appearance,  the 
material  movement  of  the  stage,  the  prepared  color  of  history. 
Larrouniet  writes:  "  The  best  eulogy  one  can  give  the 
tragedies  of  Racine  is  that  it  is  impossible  to  imagine  them 
otherwise  than  they  are.  The  facts  could  not  proceed  in  any 
other  manner;  one  finds  nothing  to  add,  nothing  to  retract. 
This  art  gives  the  illusion  of  being  life  itself. 

"Both  Corneille  and  Racine  have  attained  the  highest 
degree  of  tragic  genius,  but  Corneille  looked  to  the  heroic, 
that  is  to  say,  the  exceptional ;  Racine  regarded  humanity  as 
it  was.  Thus  they  represent  the  two  supreme  forms  of  tragic 
art — the  one  idealistic,  the  other  realistic." 

Although  Racine  in  his  conceptions  is  less  sublime  than 
Corneille,  although  he  reduces  his  personages  to  more  human 
and  more  natural  proportions,  his  characters  are  ennobled, 

1  In  my  justified  rage  watching  the  unfaithful  one; 
I  shall  know  how  to  surprise  him  with  his  Atalide 
And,  joining  them  with  the  same  dagger, 
Pierce  them  both,  and  myself  after  them. 
203 


not  by  moral  perfections,  but  by  the  free  development  of  their 
nature ;  thereby  they  attain  a  higher  degree  of  being — that  is 
to  say,  of  beauty.  Within  this  marvelous  sphere,  peopled  by 
kings  and  heroes,  the  air  is  less  heavy  on  those  noble  brows; 
the  vulgar  necessities  of  life  no  longer  oppress  the  breast; 
hearts  beat  with  no  other  obstacle  than  the  shock  of  rival 
passions  or  the  impassable  limits  of  human  conditions.  The 
passions  of  the  court  become  the  passions  of  humanity,  and 
the  work  of  Racine  will  remain  imperishable  like  them.  But 
it  is  especially  by  his  style  that  Racine  envelopes  his  heroes 
with  an  ideal  magnificence.  Here  one  is  tempted  to  hold  to 
the  opinion  of  Voltaire,  wrho  suggested  that  all  criticism  of 
the  plays  be  confined  to  a  line  written  at  the  bottom  of  each 
page,  thus:  "  Beautiful,  sublime,  harmonious!  " 

ANDROMAQUE 

After  the  capture  of  Troy,  Andromache,  the  widow  of 
Hector,  and  her  son  Astyanax  have  become  the  slaves  of 
Pyrrhus,  King  of  Epirus,  and  son  of  Achilles.  Pyrrhus, 
affianced  to  Hermione,  daughter  of  Menelaus  and  Helen, 
defers  his  marriage  from  day  to  day,  because  he  has  fallen 
in  love  with  Andromache.  The  Greek  generals,  conquerors  of 
Ilium,  have  charged  Orestes,  who  loves  Hermione,  to  recapture 
Astyanax,  whom  they  would  put  to  death.  Pyrrhus,  angered 
because  Andromache  wishes  to  remain  true  to  her  vows  to  her 
dead  husband,  threatens  to  deliver  Astyanax,  if  she  does  not 
consent  to  marry  him.  Andromache  finding  him  inflexible  de- 
cides to  wed  him  to  save  her  son,  but  decides  also  to  kill  her- 
self after  the  nuptials.  The  news  of  this  marriage  infuriates 
Hermione ;  she  commands  Orestes  to  kill  Pyrrhus  at  the  altar, 
promising  him  her  hand  as  reward.  Orestes  consents,  and 
Pyrrhus  is  slain,  but  when  Hermione  hears  that  her  lover  is 
dead,  she  repulses  the  murderer  with  horror,  and  kills  herself 
on  the  body  of  Pyrrhus.  Orestes  then  becomes  the  victim  of 
the  avenging  Furies. 

BRITANNICUS 

The  subject  of  this  play  is  borrowed  from  the  thirteenth 
book  of  the  Annals  of  Tacitus.  The  poet  depicts  Nero  upon 

204 


THE    CLASSIC    FRENCH    SCHOOL 

the  threshold  of  crime,  still  hesitating  between  good  and  evil, 
between  Burrhus  and  Narcissus.  Agrippina,  his  mother, 
thirsting  for  power,  has  formed  the  design  of  marrying  Junia 
to  Britannicus,  son  of  the  Emperor  Claudius  and  adopted 
brother  of  Nero,  in  order  to  gain  for  herself  the  affection  of 
this  young  prince,  and  to  make  of  him  her  support  in  time 
of  need  against  Nero  himself.  Nero,  in  order  to  foil  this  plan, 
has  Junia  carried  off,  and  falls  in  love  with  her  at  first 
sight.  He  orders  Britannicus  to  renounce  his  love;  on  his 
refusal  he  has  him  arrested,  and  plans  his  death.  The  in- 
tervention of  Agrippina  seems  to  disarm  the  anger  of  the 
Emperor,  but  in  reality  adds  to  it  a  new  degree  of  hypocritical 
hatred.  Burrhus,  his  governor,  brings  him  back  for  a  moment 
to  better  sentiments,  but  Narcissus  prevails  upon  him  to  con- 
summate the  crime.  Britannicus  is  accordingly  invited  to  a 
banquet,  in  the  course  of  which  he  is  poisoned.  This  tragedy, 
which,  in  the  judgment  of  La  Harpe,  "  unites  the  art  of 
Tacitus  to  the  art  of  Virgil,  and  depth  of  thought  to  purity 
of  style, "  is  in  the  eyes  of  Voltaire  ' '  the  play  of  con- 
noisseurs." 

BERENICE 

Berenice  treats  of  the  love  of  the  Emperor  Titus  for  the 
beautiful  Jewess  Berenice,  whom  for  reasons  of  State  he 
cannot  marry.  The  brilliant  lines  in  which  Berenice  describes 
the  greatness  of  Titus  express  the  splendor  of  the  court  life 
of  Louis  XIV. 

De  cette-nuit  Phenice,  as-tu  vu  la  splendeur? 

Tes  yeux  ne  sont-ils  pas  tout  pleins  de  sa  grandeur? 

Ces  flambeaux,  ces  buchers,  cette  nuit  enflammee  (etc.)-1 

Racine  did  not  forget  that  these  lines  were  to  be  spoken 
before  the  young  king — "  a  Titus  to  many  of  the  women  of 
the  court  whose  fondest  wish  would  have  been  to  be  his 
Berenice."  It  is  the  drama  of  the  court.  It  is  the  cult  of  the 
royal  personage.  The  individuality  of  great  men  was  often 
suppressed  to  conform  to  the  ideas  of  that  monarch  whose 

1  Saw  you,  Phenice,  the  splendor  of  this  night? 
Are  not  your  eyes  filled  with  his  greatness? 
Those  torches,  those  funeral  piles,  that  lurid  night. 
205 


THE    HISTORY   OF    FRENCH   LITERATURE 

absolutism  governed  genius  as  it  dominated  the  intellectual 
life  of  the  people.  Racine,  Corneille,  even  Moliere,  were  sub- 
jected to  it.  The  poetic  freedom  of  the  great  dramatists  was 
still  more  curtailed  by  the  enforced  adherence  to  the  so-called 
Aristotelian  unities:  unity  of  place,  of  time,  and  of  action. 
It  was  an  observance  imposed  upon  them  by  a  dictum  of  the 
French  Academy  approved  by  Louis  XIV.  To  ignore  it 
meant  failure;  yet  Corneille 's  Discours  des  trois  unites 
plainly  shows  how  great  a  hindrance  it  was  to  dramatic 
development.1 

PHEDRE 

Phaedra,  pursued  by  the  anger  of  Venus,  has  fallen  in  love 
with  Hippolytus,  son  of  her  husband  and  another  woman. 
In  her  hopelessness,  she  wishes  to  die;  but  hearing  that  her 
husband  is  dead  she  discloses  her  sentiments  to  Hippolytus, 
who  repulses  her  with  horror.  Suddenly  it  is  learned  that  her 
husband,  Theseus,  is  returning.  Phaedra,  in  despair,  lets  her 
nurse  accuse  Hippolytus  of  having  made  the  declaration 
which  she  herself  had  made  to  him.  Theseus,  too  credulous, 
banishes  his  son  from  his  palace,  and  begs  Neptune  to  punish 
him;  but,  moved  by  the  distress  of  Phaedra,  he  soon  repents 
of  his  imprudent  order.  It  is  too  late;  the  horses  of  Hip- 
polytus, frightened  by  a  marine  monster,  have  run  away  and 
crushed  his  body  on  the  rocks.  Phaedra  is  silent.  The  play 
is  an  admirable  portrayal  of  a  woman's  character.  It  includes 
a  great  number  of  beautiful  verses : 

Et  1'avare  Acheron  ne  lache  point  sa  proie.* 
Ainsi  que  la  vertu,  le  crime  a  ses  degre"s.s 
Le  jour  n'est  pas  plus  pur  que  le  fond  de  mon  co3ur.' 

BAJAZET 

This  is  a  Turkish  play,  the  mise-en-scene  of  which  treats 
of  a  plot  in  the  Seraglio,  related  to  Racine  by  the  French 


Lessing's  Hamburgische  Dramaturgic. 
And  hungry  Acheron  relinquishes  not  his  prey. 
Like  virtue,  crime  has  its  degrees. 
Daylight  is  no  purer  than  the  bottom  of  my  heart. 
206 


THE   CLASSIC    FRENCH   SCHOOL 

Ambassador  for  the  Orient.  The  persons  who  figure  in  it  had 
scarcely  died  when  Racine  put  them  on  the  stage.  The 
Sultan  Amurat  goes  to  besiege  Babylon;  during  his  absence, 
the  favorite  Sultana,  Roxane,  in  league  with  the  Grand  Vizier 
Acomat,  plots  to  enthrone  the  young  brother  of  the  Sultan, 
Bajazet,  with  whom  she  is  in  love,  and  to  have  Amurat 
assassinated  upon  his  return.  Bajazet,  who  loves  another 
woman,  resists  and  loses  time.  Amurat  returns,  and  puts  to 
death  the  guilty  ones,  excepting  Acomat,  who  succeeds  in 
escaping.  The  verse  spoken  by  Acomat  is  often  quoted : 

Nourri  dans  le  harem,  j'en  connais  les  de'tours.1 

ESTHER 

The  Jewess  Esther  has  been  chosen  among  a  thousand 
rivals  to  become  the  wife  of  Ahasuerus,  King  of  Persia,  who 
has  repudiated  his  wife,  the  proud  Vashti.  By  the  advice 
of  Mordecai,  her  uncle,  Esther  has  concealed  from  the  king 
her  origin  and  her  race.  Faithful  to  the  God  of  Abraham, 
she  worships  him  in  secret;  she  has  gathered  about  her  some 
young  Israelitish  women  whom  she  instructs  in  the  law  of 
the  Lord,  and  in  the  midst  of  whom  she  freely  bewails  the 
misfortunes  of  Jerusalem.  New  misfortunes  threaten  the 
people  of  God.  An  enemy  of  Israel,  the  Amalekite  Aman, 
has  forced  from  the  king  an  edict  that  all  the  Jews  scattered 
through  the  empire  be  put  to  death.  Esther  presents  herself 
before  Ahasuerus;  she  solicits  and  obtains  the  favor  of  re- 
ceiving the  king  at  her  table;  Aman  is  to  be  present  at  the 
feast.  It  is  in  the  presence  of  the  persecutor  of  the  Jews  that 
she  casts  herself  at  the  feet  of  the  king  and  implores  grace 
for  her  people,  at  the  same  time  declaring  herself  to  be  a 
Jewess.  Touched  by  the  tones  of  the  queen,  and  enlightened 
concerning  the  sinister  projects  of  his  favorite  Aman, 
Ahasuerus  sends  him  to  the  gibbet  which  had  been  prepared 
for  Mordecai,  repeals  the  edict  of  proscription,  and  puts  an 
end  to  the  captivity  of  the  Jews. 

The  choruses  are  an  innovation  which  Racine  introduced 
into  his  plays,  Esther  and  Athalie,  in  imitation  of  the  Greek 

1  Brought  up  in  the  harem,  I  know  its  by-ways. 
207 


THE    HISTORY   OF    FRENCH   LITERATURE 

tragedies,  reviving  thus  the  most  beautiful  inspirations  of 
the  prophets — and  they  are  masterpieces  of  lyric  poetry.  In 
the  ancient  tragedies  the  chorus  represented  the  crowd 
(people)  moralizing  on  the  events.  In  Esther  the  young 
Israelites  who  compose  the  chorus  participate  in  the  action: 
they  suffer,  they  tremble,  they  hope,  and  their  chants  express 
their  sorrow  and  their  enthusiasm. 


ATHALIE 

The  subject  of  Athalie  is  taken  from  the  Bible,  in  the 
Fourth  Book  of  Kings.  Athaliah,  daughter  of  Achab  and  of 
Jezebel,  King  and  Queen  of  Israel,  had  married  Jehoram,  King 
of  Judah.  Their  son,  Ochosias,  reigned  but  one  year.  At  his 
death,  Athaliah  caused  the  children  of  Ochosias,  her  grand- 
children, to  be  massacred,  in  order  to  get  possession  of  the 
throne  of  Judah.  One  only  of  these  children,  Joas,  escaped 
her  cruelty,  and  was  reared  secretly  in  the  temple  by  Josabet, 
wife  of  the  High  Priest.  Athaliah,  frightened  by  a  dream, 
enters  the  temple  of  the  Jews.  There  she  sees  a  child  re- 
sembling the  one  whom  a  prophetic  dream  has  shown  her  as 
her  enemy;  it  is  Joas.  She  wishes  to  know  who  he  is,  to  see 
him,  to  question  him;  she  wants  the  High  Priest  to  put  him 
into  her  hands.  Joas  secretly  arms  all  the  priests,  all  the 
Levites;  and  when  the  queen,  lured  by  an  equivocal  promise, 
presents  herself  to  take  possession  of  the  treasures  of  the 
temple  and  the  child  who  terrifies  her,  the  revolted  priests 
seize  her,  drag  her  out,  and  throttle  her  in  the  name  of  young 
Joas,  whom  they  proclaim  King  of  Judah,  and  legitimate  heir 
of  his  father,  Ochosias. 

In  Athalie  was  reached  the  culmination  of  dramatic 
ability :  the  temple  in  Jerusalem  which  is  the  scene  of  action, 
the  tenor  of  the  plot,  all  lend  to  this  last  masterpiece  of  Ra- 
cine's an  atmosphere  mysterious  and  grand,  augmented  by  the 
majesty  of  the  language.  Lyricism,  the  integral  part  of  the 
Greek  tragedies,  resumes  its  place  in  the  choruses,  which 
spring  from  the  nature  of  the  drama  itself. 


208 


THE   CLASSIC   FRENCH    SCHOOL 

BOILEAU 

Nicolas  Boileau  Despreaux  *  was  born  in  Paris  in  1636. 
Son  of  a  magistrate,  born  of  a  long  line  of  lawyers,  he  was 
destined  for  the  study  of  law,  which  he  soon  deserted  for 
literary  pursuits.  He  was  an  ethical  and  didactic  writer, 
very  much  preoccupied  with  questions  of  style  and  of  versifica- 
tion; furious  in  his  criticisms  of  bad  taste,  and  a  scourge  of 
mediocre  writers.  His  works  consist  of  twelve  epistles,  twelve 
satires,  and  two  poems — the  one  didactic,  the  other  for  recital. 
His  verses  are  very  well  worked  out;  their  rhythmic  and 
regular  form  impress  them  easily  on  the  mind,  and  a  great 
number  have  become  proverbs.  The  Epitres  are  generally 
superior  to  the  Satires;  four,  especially,  are  masterpieces  of 
their  kind.  The  epistle  on  the  passage  of  the  Rhine,  under 
the  eyes  of  Louis  XIV,  "  whom  his  grandeur  attached  to  the 
bank,"  is  a  magnificent  epic.  The  epistle  to  Lamoignon,  in 
which  the  author  describes  the  country  house  where  he  lives 
during  the  summer,  on  the  banks  of  the  Seine,  between  Paris 
and  Rouen:  the  houses  hollowed  from  the  rock  on  the  slope 
of  the  hills,  their  chimneys,  with  exposed  masonry,  rising  from 
the  ground ;  the  ' '  implanted  willows,  the  walnut  trees  in- 
sulted by  the  passers-by  " — all  this  forms  a  fresh  rural  pic- 
ture; and  these  pictures  are  very  rare  in  the  seventeenth 
century.  We  must  furthermore  note  the  indignant  protest 
addressed  by  Boileau  to  Racine  against  the  criticism  of 
Phedre;  and,  finally,  the  Eulogy  of  Truth  in  his  ninth 
epistle : 

Rien  n'est  beau  que  le  vrai,  le  vrai  seul  est  aimable; 
II  doit  re"gner  partout,  et  me'me  dans  la  fable.2 

While  Racine  and  Moliere  were  giving  their  masterpieces 
to  France,  Boileau,  their  friend,  was  teaching  the  public  to 
understand  and  admire  them.  Before  his  time,  an  uncertain 

1  He  added  Despreaux  to  his  name  in  order  to  distinguish  himself  from 
his  brothers. 

a  Nothing  but  Truth  is  beautiful,  Truth  alone  is  worthy  of  love, 
It  should  reign  everywhere  and  even  in  the  fable. 
De  Musset  changed  the  first  line  to:  "Rien  n'est  vrai  que  le  beau." 
(Nothing  but  the  beautiful  is  true.) 
15  209 


THE    HISTORY    OF    FRENCH    LITERATURE 

taste  admitted  in  confusion  the  good  as  well  as  the  mediocre ; 
when  he  appeared,  there  were  some  models,  but  no  defined 
principles.  The  task  of  Boileau  was  to  clear  up  the  confused 
art  of  the  seventeenth  century ;  to  assign  to  each  man  and  each 
work  the  proper  rank  in  public  esteem.  It  is  his  glory  to 
have  done  this  with  an  almost  infallible  discernment,  with  an 
intrepid  courage;  and,  finally,  to  have  crystallized  his  judg- 
ments in  a  form  so  apt,  in  a  language  so  perfect,  that  no  one 
will  be  tempted  to  revise,  and  thereby  weaken,  them.  Com- 
mon sense  and  the  sovereignty  of  reason  in  matters  of  taste 
go  to  make  the  durable  merit  of  Boileau 's  doctrine.  Here  is 
an  element  of  resemblance  to  the  other  great  men  of  his 
century.  It  is  the  spirit  of  Descartes  transferred  to  poetry. 

The  poetical  career  of  Boileau  may  be  divided  into  three 
periods.  In  the  first,  the  satirist  attacks  the  mediocre  poets 
with  all  the  impetuosity  of  youth ;  he  fights  untiringly  against 
the  false  standard  of  taste  imported  from  Spain  and  Italy. 
It  is  at  this  time  that  he  published  nine  satires,  of  which  four 
are  exclusively  literary,  while  the  others  contain  a  number 
of  unexpected  sallies  against  bad  writers  which  are  the  more 
stinging  because  of  their  unexpectedness.  "  The  satires  be- 
long, ' '  says  Voltaire,  ' '  to  the  first  manner  of  this  great  artist 
— a  manner  very  much  inferior,  it  is  true,  to  the  second,  but 
far  superior  to  that  of  all  the  writers  of  his  time,  if  you  except 
Racine. ' '  In  the  second  period,  Boileau  abandoned  satire :  he 
had  destroyed;  it  was  now  a  question  of  reconstructing.  At 
this  time  appeared  I 'Art  Poetique,  in  which  he  formulated 
and  coordinated  the  literary  doctrine  he  had  just  made  prev- 
alent. On  this,  his  masterpiece  in  four  cantos,  he  worked 
for  five  years  deliberately  and  with  the  utmost  care.  It 
served  the  French  as  a  poetical  code  for  one  and  a  half 
centuries,  and  its  absolute  authority  was  overthrown  only  by 
the  Romanticists  of  the  nineteenth  century.  In  the  same  year 
(1674)  he  published  the  first  four  cantos  (there  are  six)  of 
the  Lutrin*  (Lectern) — an  ingenious  and  elegant  pleasantry, 
a  masterpiece  of  versification  worthy  of  a  subject  less  shallow. 

This  poetical  masterpiece  deals  with  a  chorister  who 
dearly  loves  to  have  himself  seen  by  the  faithful  while  he 

1  After  La  Secchia  Rapita  (The  Rape  of  the  Bucket)  of  Tassoni. 

210 


THE    CLASSIC    FRENCH    SCHOOL 

fulfills  his  ecclesiastical  duties.  By  way  of  a  joke,  it  is 
planned  to  place  in  the  church  a  large  pulpit,  or  reading  desk, 
that  will  hide  him  completely  from  the  public.  This  is  done 
during  the  night;  when  morning  comes  the  furious  chorister 
breaks  the  new  desk  in  pieces.  A  dispute  arises;  it  becomes 
a  battle  in  which  the  books  stacked  in  the  shop  of  a  neighbor- 
ing bookseller  serve  as  projectiles.  The  scene  is  laid  in  Paris, 
at  the  Sainte-Chapelle,  and  in  the  Palais  de  Justice.  The 
quarrel  had  actually  taken  place,  and  Le  Lutrin  was  the  result 
of  a  bet :  Boileau  in  conversation  with  M.  de  Lamoignon  held 
that  the  slightest  circumstance  might  serve  as  a  subject  for 
an  epic  poem.  "  Prove  it  and  make  one  on  this  quarrel  of 
the  Sainte-Chapelle,"  replied  Lamoignon.  "  Why  not  "  ? 
responded  Boileau.  "  One  ought  never  to  challenge  a  fool, 
and  I  am  sufficiently  one  not  only  to  undertake  it,  but  also 
to  dedicate  it  to  Monsieur,  the  First  President  (Lamoignon)." 
Boileau  kept  his  word  with  the  result  we  have  observed:  it 
bears  out  his  sentiments  expressed  in  his  famous  Art  Poe- 
tique : 

Sans  la  langue  en  un  mot,  1'auteur  le  plus  divin 
Est  tou jours,  quoi  qu'il  fasse,  un  me'chant  e"crivain.1 

In  the  Lutrin  a  less  aggressive  spirit  animated  the  critic; 
his  mocking  was  more  joyous.  He  wrote  the  first  nine  epistles ; 
the  seventh,  addressed  to  Racine,  united  in  the  highest  degree 
all  the  qualities  of  excellence  that  assured  the  glory  of  the 
great  French  satirist.  French  criticism  had  only  recently 
become  a  genre;  it  had  not  yet  attained  any  great  develop- 
ment. Boileau  created  the  style  of  literary  criticism  in  verse 
as  he  was  also  the  creator  of  the  satire  and  the  epistle  in 
France.  The  most  remarkable  of  his  satires  are:  Le  Repas 
ridicule  and  Les  Embarras  de  Paris,  which,  however,  are  in- 
ferior to  the  satire  entitled,  A  mon  Esprit,  in  which  he  sets 
forth  the  problem  of  the  satire : 

Elle  seule,  bravant  1'orgueil  et  Tin  justice, 
Va  j usque  sous  le  dais  faire  palir  le  vice.2 

1  The  most  divine  author,  if  he  uses  not  the  correct  expression, 
In  spite  of  all  his  efforts  will  never  be  but  a  poor  writer. 

*  It  (satire)  alone,  defying  pride  and  injustice, 
Penetrates  even  into  the  palace  to  put  vice  to  shame. 
211 


THE    HISTORY   OF    FRENCH    LITERATURE 

After  this  work,  Boileau,  who  had  been  appointed  his- 
toriographer of  the  king  along  with  Racine,  followed  Racine's 
example  by  interrupting  his  poetic  labors ;  during  the  ensuing 
sixteen  years  he  was  content  with  publishing  the  last  two 
cantos  of  the  Lutrin.  He  again  took  up  his  literary  work  in 
1693;  but,  less  fortunate  than  his  famous  friend,  he  was  far 
from  disclosing  a  new  genius.  Here  begins  the  third  period 
of  his  life — that  in  which  he  produced  the  Ode  sur  la  prise  de 
Namur,  the  satires  against  Les  Femmes,  on  L'Honneur,  and 
the  one  against  L 'Equivoque.  Boileau  never  replied  directly 
to  any  pamphlet  attacking  him,  but  when  in  1687,  the  famous 
Quarrel  of  the  Ancients  and  the  Moderns  was  agitating  the  lit- 
erary world,  Boileau  took  a  very  active  part  in  defense  of  the 
ancients.  It  is  said  that  during  a  meeting  of  the  Academic 
Franchise,  when  Charles  Perrault 1  read  his  poem  Le  Siecle  de 
Louis  le  Grand,  in  which  he  freely  abused  the  authors  of  an- 
tiquity, Boileau,  angered  and  offended,  showed  his  chagrin, 
and  made  use  of  his  most  effective  weapon — satire.  He  wrote 
in  a  letter  to  the  Marquis  de  Mimeure  that  his  vexation  so 
apparent  on  this  occasion  must  have  served  Moliere  as  a  model 
for  his  Misanthrope.  When  Perrault  published  his  Parallele 
des  Anciens  et  des  Modernes,  the  Prince  de  Conti  said:  "  If 
Boileau  does  not  answer,  you  can  assure  him  that  I  shall  go 
to  the  Academy  to  write  on  his  seat:  "  Thou  sleepest, 
Brutus.'  '  The  ode  on  the  capture  of  Namur — designed  to 
overturn  Perrault 's  celebration  of  the  moderns — not  sufficing. 
Boileau  wrote  his  Reflexions  sur  Longin. 

The  works  of  Boileau  are  the  best  expression  of  the  liter- 
ary criticism  of  the  seventeenth  century ;  although  during  the 
entire  century  literary  discussions  were  the  fashion.  In  the 
salons,  the  sonnets  of  Benserade,  and  Voiture  were  discussed ; 
in  the  Academy,  Le  Cid.  Debates  were  in  vogue  in  all  the 

1  A  man  of  wit,  author  of  the  charming  Fairy  Tales,  reminiscent  of  our 
Mother  Goose  Stories.  It  is  Perrault  who  read  before  the  Academy  a 
discourse  containing  these  lines: 

"Que  Ton  peut  comparer,  sans  crainte  d'etre  injuste, 

Le  siecle  de  Louis  au  beau  siecle  d'Auguste." 

Louis  XIV  is  said  to  have  imitated  the  customs  of  the  age  of  Augustus  with 
respect  to  his  court  poets.  Louis  thought  himself  another  Augustus, 
Boileau  was  his  Horace. 

212 


THE    CLASSIC    FRENCH    SCHOOL 

literary  circles;  the  most  celebrated  of  these  debates  was 
called  the  "  Quarrel  of  the  ancients  and  the  moderns,"  the 
moderns  being  represented  by  Charles  Perrault,  the  ancients 
by  Boileau,  Huet,  La  Fontaine.  The  dispute  ended  with  the 
reconciliation. of  Boileau  and  Perrault.  Boileau  in  his  de- 
fense of  the  ancients,  writes  Lanson,  as  little  suspected  that 
he  was  an  evolutionist  as  Saint  Augustine  thought  himself  a 
Cartesian  when  he  encountered  the  famous  formula :  Je  pense, 
done  je  suis.  The  quarrel  was  revived  fifteen  years  later, 
when  the  ancients  carried  off  the  palm  of  victory  with  the 
translation  of  the  Iliad  by  Madame  Dacier  and  of  Telemaque. 
by  Fenelon. 

At  court,  Boileau  retained  his  independence  as  elsewhere, 
and  for  thirty  years  enjoyed  the  uninterrupted  favor  of  the 
king.  Boileau,  like  Racine  and  Moliere,  have  been  reproached 
by  posterity  for  flattering  the  king,  but  it  must  be  remembered 
that  at  this  epoch  there  was  in  France  a  royalty  cult,  and  it 
was  only  natural  to  praise  the  king.  Nevertheless,  this  adula- 
tion did  not  make  Boileau  stoop  to  any  sordidness;  on  the 
contrary  he  dared  even  at  times  to  tell  an  unpleasant  truth 
to  the  king.  Louis  XIV  having  composed  some  verses,  showed 
them  to  Boileau.  "  Sire,"  said  Boileau,  "  nothing  is  im- 
possible to  Your  Majesty.  Your  Majesty  has  wished  to  make 
bad  verses,  and  Your  Majesty  has  entirely  succeeded." 

"  M.  Boileau,"  Racine  wrote  to  his  son,  "  has  not  only  re- 
ceived from  heaven  a  marvelous  genius  for  satire,  but  he  has 
likewise  an  excellent  judgment  that  enables  him  to  distinguish 
what  should  be  lauded  from  what  should  be  reproved. ' '  But 
this  ' '  marvelous  genius  for  satire  ' '  did  not  affect  the  natural 
good-will  of  Boileau.  "  He  is  only  cruel  in  verse,"  said 
Madame  de  Sevigne.  Racine  was  vicious  and  bitter  in  dis- 
cussion; Boileau  always  retained  his  sangfroid.  His  opinions 
often  anticipated  those  of  posterity.  One  day  the  king  asked 
him  who  was  the  greatest  poet  of  his  reign:  "Moliere,  Sire," 
answered  Boileau,  without  hesitation.  "  I  should  not  have 
thought  so,"  answered  the  king,  somewhat  astonished,  "  but 
you  understand  it  better  than  I." 

Boileau  lived  the  greater  part  of  his  life  at  Auteuil,  in 
a  house  which  he  owed  to  the  bounty  of  Louis  XIV,  and  which 
was  a  favorite  rendezvous  of  the  great  celebrities  of  the  day. 

213 


THE    HISTORY   OF   FRENCH   LITERATURE 

Twice  a  week  these  great  men  met,  and  among  their  favorite 
places  were  the  famous  cabarets,1  the  Mouton  blanc  and  the 
Pomme  de  pin,  the  taverns  Villon  and  Regnier  are  supposed  to 
have  frequented.  Here  these  men  of  genius  exchangd  their 
brilliant  ideas  over  the  flowing  cup  and  gay  repasts. 

It  is  related  that  on  one  occasion,  Moliere,  Chapelle, 
Boileau,  Racine,  and  La  Fontaine,  were  assembled  at  Auteuil. 
They  were  dining  and  drinking,  and  the  wise  Boileau  lost 
his  wits  with  the  rest  of  them.  Wine  had  put  them  in  a  most 
serious  frame  of  mind;  reflection  on  the  miseries  of  life,  and 
the  maxim  of  the  ancients  that  the  highest  happiness  is  not 
to  have  been  born  at  all — or,  being  denied  that,  to  die  young — 
prompted  a  heroic  resolution  to  throw  themselves  forthwith 
into  the  river.  They  set  out,  and  the  river  was  not  far.  Then 
Moliere  persuaded  them  that  such  a  noble  action  should  not 
be  buried  in  the  shades  of  night ;  that  it  would  more  properly 
be  done  in  the  light  of  day.  So  they  stopped,  and,  looking  at 
each  other,  said:  "  He  is  right  ";  to  which  Chapelle  added, 
"  Yes,  gentlemen,  let  us  not  drown  ourselves  until  to-morrow 
morning,  and,  meanwhile,  let  us  drink  the  rest  of  the  wine." 
But  the  following  day  saw  a  change  in  their  ideas;  they  con- 
cluded that,  after  all,  it  was  better  to  support  the  miseries  of 
life. 

Among  those  great  minds,  Boileau  constantly  remained 
the  bond  between  rivals.  An  intimate  friend  of  Racine,  he 
never  quarreled  with  Moliere ;  he  ran  to  the  king  to  ask  him 
to  transfer  the  royal  pension,  with  which  Louis  had  honored 
him,  to  the  aged  Corneille,  who  found  himself  deprived,  with- 
out reason,  of  the  monarch's  favor.  Boileau  entered  the 
Academy  in  1684,  immediately  after  La  Fontaine;  his  satires 
had  retarded  his  election.  "  He  praised  without  flattery,  he 
humbled  himself  nobly,"  says  Louis  Racine,  "  and  when  de- 
claring that  membership  in  the  Academy  should  be  closed  to 
him  for  many  reasons,  he  alluded  to  all  the  Academicians 
whom  he  had  satirized  in  his  works." 

Boileau  survived  Racine  by  twelve  years,  without  setting 
foot  in  the  court  subsequent  to  his  first  interview  with  the  king 
after  Racine's  death.  "  I  have  been  at  Versailles,"  he  writes, 

1  These  cabarets  were  later  called  cafe's. 
214 


THE    CLASSIC    FRENCH    SCHOOL 

"  where  I  have  seen  Madame  de  Maintenon,  and  after- 
ward the  king,  who  overwhelmed  me  with  kind  expressions ;  so, 
here  I  am,  more  the  historiographer  than  ever.  His  Majesty 
spoke  to  me  of  M.  Racine  in  a  way  to  make  all  the  courtiers 
anxious  to  die,  if  they  thought  he  would  speak  of  them  in  this 
way  after  their  death.  However,  this  consoled  me  very  little 
for  the  loss  of  our  illustrious  friend,  who  is  none  the  less 
dead,  although  mourned  by  the  greatest  king  in  the  universe." 
' '  Remember, ' '  Louis  XIV  had  said,  ' '  that  I  have  always  one 
hour  a  week  to  give  you  when  you  wish  to  come. ' '  However, 
Boileau  did  not  return.  ' '  What  should  I  do  at  the  court  ?  ' ' 
he  used  to  say.  ' '  I  no  longer  know  how  to  praise. ' '  He  lived 
in  retirement  on  his  estate  at  Auteuil  until  his  death.  Boileau 
died  in  1711,  having  survived  all  his  friends,  leaving  almost 
all  his  estate  to  the  poor,  and  followed  to  his  tomb  by  a 
numerous  crowd.  "  He  had  many  friends,"  said  the  people, 
' '  yet  they  assure  us  that  he  spoke  ill  of  everybody. ' ' 

No  writer  has  contributed  more  to  the  formation  of  poetry 
than  has  Boileau;  no  juster  and  more  delicate  judgment  has 
appreciated  the  merit  of  authors;  no  more  elevated  soul  has 
directed  a  firmer  and  saner  mind.  In  spite. of  the  vicissitudes 
of  letters,  in  spite  of  the  sometimes  excessive  rigor  of  his 
decisions,  Boileau  has  left  on  the  French  language  an  in- 
effaceable imprint.  His  talent  has  exercised  less  influence 
than  his  mind ;  his  judgment  and  his  character  have  had  more 
influence  than  his  verses. 

There  are  few  writers  who  have  been  so  widely  read  as 
Boileau.1  He  exercised  an  influence  throughout  Europe,  and 
acted  upon  the  works  of  Pope,  Dryden,  Gottsched,  Lessing, 
Luzan,  and  others.  Boileau 's  dictum  was  adopted  as  the 
highest  standard  of  French  taste.  Lanson  writes:  <l  Ex- 
perience seems  to  indicate  that  the  principles  of  Boileau  in 
their  essential  and  profound  signification  embody  the  funda- 
mental and  permanent  demands  of  French  taste.  For  two 
centuries  all  that  has  been  found  solid,  sane,  and  durable  in 
our  literature,  all  that  has  been  saved  from  oblivion  and  the 
decay  of  time,  is  the  diction  essentially  conforming  to  the  doc- 
trine of  the  Art  poetique :  and  the  concealed  faults  or  obvious 

1  There  are  two  hundred  and  twenty-five  editions  of  his  works  of  which 
sixty  editions  were  published  during  his  lifetime. 

215 


THE    HISTORY   OF    FRENCH   LITERATURE 

deformities  which  caused  the  destruction  of  schools  and  their 
works,  were  generally  what  Boileau  implicitly  or  expressly 
condemned.  ...  A  psychological  and  moral  literature,  clear, 
precise,  regular,  and  interesting,  based  on  reality  and  yet 
resting  the  mind  from  reality,  the  joy  of  the  esprits  legers, 
and  the  food  of  active  intellect — that  is  what  French  taste 
demands.  Because  of  this,  therefore,  for  many  years  to  come 
we  shall  have  something  of  Boileau,  and  something  essential, 
in  all  the  works  which  will  succeed  among  us." 


MOLIERE 

Tragedy  had  held  the  stage  early  in  the  seventeenth  cen- 
tury in  France.  Not  until  Moliere  rang  up  the  curtain  on 
true  comedy  did  the  sock  take  the  place  of  the  buskin. 
Farces  had  been  introduced  by  Gros  Guillaume  and  Gautier- 
Garguille;  Desmarets  de  Saint-Sorlin  had  written  a  comedy 
sketch  of  manners,  Les  Visionnaires  (The  Visionaries)  ;  and 
Corneille's  Le  Menteur,  the  first  notable  attempt  at  a  comedy 
of  character,  had  appeared.  But  the  complications  of  plot  in 
these  plays  were  almost  incomprehensible !  and  Scarron  's  Le 
Marquis  ridicule,  and  Don  Japhet  d'Armenie  abounded  in 
mystification,  and  buffoonery.  With  Moliere 's  advent  these 
clumsy  and  superficial  essays  gave  way  to  refreshing,  natural 
pictures  of  life;  and  that,  too,  at  a  time  when  life  was 
stifled  by  affectation  and  artificiality  of  speech  and  manner. 
Mediocre  poets  could  not  effect  this  change;  only  a  genius 
could  show  the  way  and  find  the  means  to  correct  and  improve 
society — in  fact,  to  rescue  it.  Moliere,  creator  of  modern 
comedy,  unfettered  by  rules,  rose  to  heights  never  before  and 
never  since  attained.  Comedy  as  it  had  been  developed  in 
the  Greek  and  Roman  world,  and  continued  in  the  Italian 
Commedia  dell'arte,  found  in  him  a  master  who  overturned 
the  traditions  of  comic  complications — depicting  instead  the 
weaknesses  of  his  age  and  of  humanity  as  we  still  see  it  to- 
day. Of  all  Frenchmen,  Moliere  remains  the  author  who 
enjoys  universal  homage,  whose  place  in  the  world's  literature 
is  above  all  other  contrivers  of  comedy,  ancient  and  modern. 

Jean-Baptiste  Poquelin,  who  later  took  the  pseudonym  of 

216 


' '  Moliere, ' '  was  born  at  Paris  in  1622.  His  father,  chamber- 
lain of  the  king,  sent  him  to  be  educated  at  the  "  College 
de  Clermont  "  (later  Louis-le-Grand),  at  that  time  conducted 
by  the  Jesuits.  But  he  was  preferably  in  attendance  at  the 
lessons  which  the  philosopher  Gassendi  gave  to  his  disciples, 
among  whom  were  the  celebrated  traveler  Bernier,  the  poet 
Renault,  the  humorist  Cyrano  de  Bergerac,  and  Chapelle  the 
Epicurean.  During  the  course  of  these  lessons,  Poquelin  ac- 
quired a  certain  liberty  of  thought  which  often  appeared  in 
his  plays,  and,  later,  lent  color  to  the  accusation  that  he  was 
irreligious.  After  his  studies  were  finished,  Moliere,  at  the 
age  of  twenty,  played  in  the  gambling  house  of  la  Perle,  and 
then  organized  a  company  under  the  ambitious  name  of 
L'lllustre  Theatre  in  1643,  where  he  acted  under  the  name 
of  Moliere.  The  next  year  the  company  was  stranded,  Moliere 
was  arrested  by  the  tradesman  who  supplied  the  candles,  and 
the  company  had  to  borrow  money  to  release  him  from  prison. 
In  1646  he  left  Paris  as  the  chief  of  a  small  troop  of  actors, 
who,  not  being  able  to  support  themselves  in  Paris,  traveled 
twelve  years  through  the  provinces.  In  1653,  at  Lyons,  he 
staged  his  comedy  L'Etourdi,1  the  first  regular  play  he  had 
ever  composed ;  Le  Depit  Amoureux z  was  presented  at  Be- 
ziers 3  in  1656,  where  he  was  the  protege  of  Prince  de  Conti, 
governor  of  Languedoc.  The  company  returned  to  Paris  in 
1658,  and  Moliere  played  before  the  king  in  the  hall  of  the 
Guards  of  the  old  Louvre.  Under  the  patronage  of  the  king 
and  of  Monsieur,  the  king's  brother,  Moliere  became  the  chief 
of  a  troop  called  the  "  Troupe  de  Monsieur  "  which  played 
in  the  Hotel  du  Petit-Bourbon.  Later  they  played  in  the 
Palais-Royal  under  the  protection  of  the  king  and  were  called 
"  troupe  du  roy  "  in  opposition  to  the  "  troupe  royale  "  of  the 
Hotel  de  Bourgogne,  and  of  the  Theatre  du  Marais.  Some 
years  later,  Moliere 's  company  absorbed  the  Marais  company 
to  form  the  Theatre  Guenegaud.  In  1680,  by  order  of  Louis 

1  L'Etowdi  is  imitated  from  the  I'lnavvertito  of  Nicolo  Barbieri. 

J  Le  Depit  Amoureux  is  derived  from  I'lnteresse,  by  Nicolas  Secchi,  and 
from  the  farce,  Gli  Sdegni  amorosi. 

3  For  the  opening  of  the  session  of  the  Estates  of  Languedoc.  Local 
tradition  still  shows  the  chair  in  the  barber's  shop  where  Molidre  sat  in 
silence  and  studied  from  life  the  various  characters  who  assembled  there. 

217 


XIV,  who  wished  to  have  only  one  French  theatre  in  Paris, 
Moliere 's  company  was  united  with  the  "  Troupe  royale  de 
1'Hotel  de  Bourgogne, "  forming  the  famous  Comedie  Fran- 
caise  (official  name  of  the  Theatre-Francais)  in  a  wing  of  the 
Palais-Royal.  So  Moliere  may  be  considered  the  true  founder 
of  the  Theatre-Francais.  It  was  dedicated  to  a  classic  reper- 
tory and  to  this  day  is  considered  the  foremost  stage  for  classic 
plays  and  their  perfect  interpretation.  It  was  at  the  Theatre 
du  Petit-Bourbon  that  Moliere  in  1659  achieved  such  a  signal 
victory  with  his  Precieuses  Ridicules.  He  broke  away  from 
the  Italians  and  Spanish,  and,  taking  the  customs  of  his  time 
at  first  hand,  squarely  attacked  the  affectations  and  absurd 
pretensions  of  the  vulgar  imitators  of  the  Hotel  Rambouillet. 
"  Courage,  Moliere!  "  cried  an  old  man  from  the  midst  of  the 
pit.  "  That  is  true  comedy!  "  When  he  published  his  play 
Moliere,  lest  he  offend  a  powerful  class,  took  pains  to  say  in 
the  preface,  that  he  was  not  attacking  the  real  Precieuses,  but 
those  who  imitated  them  poorly.  Menage,  one  of  the  most 
illustrious  alcovistes,1  declared  himself  converted.  "  Mon- 
sieur," said  he  to  Chapelain,  while  coming  from  the  opening 
performance  of  the  Precieuses,  "  we  used  to  approve  of  all 
the  nonsense  which  has  just  been  so  cleverly  criticised  with  so 
much  good  sense,  and,  as  Saint  Remi  said  to  Clovis : '  We  shall 
have  to  burn  what  we  have  worshiped,  and  worship  what  we 
have  burned. '  " 2  "It  happened,  as  I  had  predicted, ' '  added 
Menage.  After  that  first  performance  they  abandoned  the 
nonsensical  and  forced  style  which  had  been  cultivated,  and 
applauded  Moliere  with  enthusiasm. 

Then  Moliere  took  another  step.  "  Henceforth,"  said 
he,  "  I  shall  study  Plautus  and  Terence,  and  reveal  the  frag- 
ments of  Meander."  Like  his  illustrious  contemporaries,  he 
proceeded  to  borrow  from  the  classics ;  he  assimilated  what  he 
borrowed,  and  impressed  it  with  his  own  originality.  From 
Plautus  he  took  L'Avare  and  Amphitryon;  from  Terence,  the 
knaveries  of  his  valets  and  the  debates  of  his  Adelphi  con- 
cerning marriage.  In  Italy  he  sought  his  scholar  —  academi- 

1  An  alcoviste  was  an  habitue"  of  ruelles  and  also  meant  a  cicisbeo  or 
professed  gallant  and  attendant  of  a  married  woman. 

*The  entire  quotation  reads.  "Courbe  la  te"te,  fier  Sicambre,  adore  ce 
que  tu  as  brute,  brule  ce  que  tu  as  adore"." 

218 


THE   CLASSIC   FRENCH   SCHOOL 

cian  of  Bologna  or  Padua  —  whose  education  he  completed 
in  the  school  of  the  French  Vadius  or  Pancraces;  Pantalon, 
an  amorous  and  credulous  old  man,  was  transformed  into 
Gerontes,  and  Scapin,  wily  and  knavish,  naturally  followed 
his  master.  Moreto  inspired  La  Princesse  d'Elide;  Tirso  de 
Molin's  Le  Convive  de  Pierre  (The  Stone  Guest),  became  Le 
Festin  de  Pierre,  usually  known  as  Don  Juan.  It  was  as 
Moliere  himself  said :  "  Je  prends  mon  bien  ou  je  le  trouve."  x 
But  it  did  not  in  the  least  detract  from  his  glory ;  like  Shake- 
speare, he  did  not  copy,  he  transformed,  by  virtue  of  his 
genius.  ^ 

L'Ecole  des  Maris  (The  School  for  Husbands)  and  Les 
Fdcheux  (The  Bores)  were  performed  for  the  fetes  at  Vaux. 
Among  the  ridiculous  characters  of  this  last-named  play, 
Moliere  had  not  included  that  of  the  hunter.  Louis  XIV  him- 
self pointed  out  to  him  his  omission.  ' '  There  is  one  whom  you 
have  forgotten,  the  Marquis  de  Soyecour,"  said  he.  Twenty- 
four  hours  later  the  tiresome  gamekeeper,  with  all  his  hunting 
jargon,  forever  found  a  place  among  the  Facheux 2  of  Moliere. 
With  L'Ecole  des  femmes,3  La  Critique  de  I'Ecole  des 
Femmes,  and  I'Impromptu  de  Versailles,  began  the  fighting 
period  of  the  great  comic  poet's  life.  Accused  of  irreligion, 
attacked  even  in  his  private  life,  Moliere,  repaying  insult 
with  insult,  exposed  the  idiosyncrasies  of  his  enemies  to  the 
ridicule  of  the  court  and  of  posterity.  Don  Juan  ou  Le  Festin 
de  Pierre,  was  designed  to  clear  the  author  of  the  reproach  of 
impiety;  La  Princesse  d'Elide  and  L' Amour  medecin  were 

1  "I  take  my  own  wherever  I  find  it." 

Pascal  said:  "Let  no  one  say  that  I  have  said  nothing  new.  The 
arrangement  of  the  material  is  new." 

La  Bruyere  said:  "Everything  has  been  said"  and  yet  he  wrote  an 
excellent  and  an  original  book. 

2  Les  Fdcheux  is  the  first  example  of  those  pieces  called  "pieces  a  tiroir  " 
— plays  without  plan  or  plot;  and  in  it  was  introduced,  for  the  first  time, 
the  comedy-ballet,  in  which  the  dance  is  so  intermingled  with  the  action 
as  to  fill  up  intervals,  without  breaking  the  continuity  of  the  play.     Les 
Fdcheux  was  conceived,  written,  rehearsed  and  performed  within  fifteen 
clays. 

a  Sir  Walter  Scott  says:  "  The  Country  Wife  of  Wycherly  is  an  imitation 
of  L'Ecole  des  femmes,  with  the  demerit  on  the  part  of  the  English  author 
of  having  rendered  licentious  a  plot  which  in  Moliere's  hands  is  only  gay." 

219 


THE    HISTORY    OF    FRENCH    LITERATURE 

only  charming  interludes  in  the  great  struggle  henceforth 
waged  between  realities  and  appearances. 

In  1666,  Moliere  produced  Le  Misanthrope,  an  invective 
against  the  superficiality  and  the  perfidies  of  the  court.  Le 
Tartuffe  was  a  new  effort  in  the  same  direction,  bolder  in  its 
attack  on  religious  hypocrisy,  and  seeming  to  strike  even  at 
religion  itself.  Moliere  had  been  working  on  it  for  a  long 
time.  The  first  acts  had  been  played  at  court  under  the  title 
L' Hypocrite;  the  completed  play  was  performed  under  the 
title  of  L'Imposteur,  during  the  absence  of  the  King.  The 
next  day  its  representation  was  forbidden :  ' '  His  Honor,  the 
first  President  Lamoignon  did  not  wish  it  to  be  played."  * 

The  good  sense  and  judgment  of  the  king  finally  prevailed 
over  the  terrors  of  the  true  devotees  and  the  anger  of  the 
hypocrites.  His  Majesty  had  just  seen  the  performance  of 
an  impious  buffoonery,  when  he  said  to  the  Prince  of  Conde, 
who  was  protecting  Moliere:  "  I  should  like  to  know  why 
people  who  are  so  scandalized  at  Moliere 's  comedy  say  nothing 
of  that  of  Scaramouche. " 2  "  The  reason  for  that,"  re- 
sponded the  prince,  "  is  that  the  comedy  of  Scaramouche 
deals  with  heaven  and  religion,  for  which  these  gentlemen 
care  nothing,  whereas  Moliere 's  comedy  reflects  themselves  — 
a  thing  which  they  cannot  endure."  The  following  frag- 
ments of  a  petition  presented  to  the  king  by  Moliere,  on  the 
comedy  of  Tartuffe,  illustrates  some  of  the  difficulties  he  had 
to  contend  with : 

SIRE: 

The  duty  of  comedy  being  to  correct  men  while  diverting  them,  I 
have  thought  that  in  the  profession  I  pursue  I  could  do  nothing 
better  than  attack  by  means  of  ridiculous  descriptions  the  vices  of  my 
epoch;  and  since  hypocrisy,  without  doubt,  is  one  of  the  most 
prevalent  of  these,  one  of  the  most  troublesome  and  dangerous,  I 
had  thought,  Sire,  that  I  should  render  no  small  service  to  all  honest 

1  The  play  upon  words  is  lost  by  translation.     Moliere  said :  "  Monsieur 
le  premier  president  ne  veut  pas  qu'on  le  joue,"  le  referring  to  Tartuffe,  but 
which  may  also  be  applied  to  Lamoignon. 

2  Scaramouche,  a  personage  of  the  ancient  Italian  stage  always  dressed 
in  black  from  head  to  foot.     Tiberio  Fiorelli  was  the  first  comedian  known 
by  that  name,  and  is  said  to  have  invented  it.     Moliere  uses  it  in  his  phrase 
"Le  ciel  s'est  habille",  ce  soir,  en  Scaramouche." 

220 


THE    CLASSIC    FRENCH    SCHOOL 

people  in  your  kingdom  if  I  made  a  comedy  describing  hypocrites  and 
exposing  to  view,  as  they  ought  to  be,  all  the  studied  deceits  of  these 
extremely  "good"  people,  all  the  hidden  tricks  of  these  counter- 
feiters in  devotion,  who  wish  to  ensnare  men  by  means  of  false  zeal 
and  a  sophistical  charity.  .  .  .  But,  in  spite  of  this  glorious  declara- 
tion of  the  greatest  king  on  earth  as  well  as  the  most  enlightened;  in 
spite,  moreover,  of  the  approbation  of  the  Papal  legate  and  the  greater 
part  of  our  prelates — all  of  whom,  in  the  readings  of  my  work  which 
I  have  given  them,  found  themselves  in  accord  with  the  sentiments  of 
your  Majesty;  in  spite  of  all  this,  I  say,  we  see  a  book  composed  by 
the  cure  l  of which  boldly  gives  the  lie  to  all  this  august  testi- 
mony. Your  Majesty  need  say  nothing,  and  the  legate  and  the  prel- 
ates need  not  render  their  judgment;  my  comedy,  without  his  having 
seen  it,  is  diabolical,  and  diabolical  is  my  brain ;  I  am  a  demon  clothed 
in  flesh  in  the  form  of  a  man — a  libertine,  an  impious  wretch  worthy 
of  exemplary  punishment.  It  does  not  suffice  that  a  public  fire  ex- 
piate my  offense;  I  should  settle  too  cheaply.  The  charitable  zeal  of 
this  good  man  does  not  stop  at  this:  he  does  not  wish  that  I  should 
have  mercy  from  God,  he  wishes  that  I  be  damned ;  it  is  all  settled.  .  .  . 

While  waiting  permission  to  stage  Tartuffe,  Moliere  had 
produced  Le  Medecin  Malgre  Lui,  Amphitryon,  George  Dan- 
din  and  L'Avare,2  lavishing  freely  the  inexhaustible  resources 
of  his  genius,  and  always  ready  for  the  royal  or  princely 
fetes.  Moliere  was  the  comedian,  the  director  and  manager 
of  his  company,  and  also  furnished  the  plays,  most  of  which 
were  improvised  on  command  for  the  court.  Monsieur  de 
Pourceaugnac  was  played  for  the  first  time  at  Chambord; 
"  one  year  later,"  Le  Bourgeois  Gentilhomme  appeared,  with 
the  divertissements  and  music  of  Lulli.  The  play  directly 
satirized  one  of  the  most  frequently  ridiculous  characteristics 
of  his  time.  Many  of  the  people  secretly  felt  themselves 
pricked ;  their  anger  broke  out  at  the  first  representation,  and 
Moliere  thought  himself  ruined ;  but  the  king  said  to  him : 

1  The  cur£  of  Saint-Barthe'lemy,  Pierre  Roulle1,  who  made  a  most  violent 
attack  on  Moliere  and  called  him  "that  demon  clad  in  human  flesh,  who 
deserved  to  be  sent  through  earthly,  to  eternal,  fires,"  in  a  pamphlet  (Le 
Roy  glorieux  au  monde).  In  answer,  the  king  adopted  Moliere's  company 
as  his  servants  and  gave  them  the  title  of  Troupe  du  roy. 

3  After  Plautus,  and  the  play  Goethe  considered  among  the  finest  ever 
written. 

221 


THE    HISTORY   OF    FRENCH   LITERATURE 

"  You  have  never  done  anything  which  has  diverted  me  so 
much;  your  comedy  is  excellent."  So  the  court  immediately 
hastened  to  admire  it. 

The  king  had  lavished  his  favors  on  Moliere,  who  was  sta- 
tioned near  him  as  chamberlain  by  heredity.1  He  had  given 
him  a  pension  of  seven  thousand  livres  and  the  privileges  of 
the  royal  theater.  He  protected  him  against  the  slanders  of 
certain  of  his  private  servitors  and  gave  him  a  public  proof 
of  his  esteem,  by  being  the  godfather  of  the  oldest  of  his 
children,  whose  godmother  was  the  Duchess  of  Orleans.  Hear- 
ing that  some  of  the  officers  of  his  court  had  treated  Moliere 
in  a  contemptuous  manner,  the  king  bade  him  be  a  guest  at 
his  private  table,  where  he  himself  served  the  actor-dramatist, 
saying  to  his  astonished  courtiers:  "  You  see  me  occupied 
in  serving  Moliere,  who  is  not  good  enough  company  for 
some  of  my  officers. ' '  But  all  the  power  of  the  monarch,  and 
his  constant  favors,  could  not  efface  the  public  prejudice  which 
was  then  attached  to  the  actor's  profession,  and  confer  upon 
the  comedian,  seen  every  day  on  the  stage,  the  station  and  rank 
to  which  his  genius  entitled  him.  The  friends  of  Moliere  urged 
him  to  quit  the  theater.  ' '  Your  health  is  declining, ' '  Boileau 
said  to  him, ' '  because  the  profession  of  a  comedian  is  exhaust- 
ing you.  Why  do  you  not  give  it  up  ?  "  "  Alas !  "  answered 
Moliere,  sighing,  "  it  is  a  point  of  honor  which  holds  me." 
"  And  what  do  you  mean  by  that?  "  asked  Boileau.  "  The 
point  of  honor,"  explained  Moliere,  "consists  in  my  not  de- 
serting more  than  a  hundred  persons  whose  support  depends 
upon  my  personal  exertions." 

In  ordinary  life  Moliere  laughed  little,  and  observed  a 
great  deal;  his  friends  had  nicknamed  him  "  the  Contem- 
plator. ' '  Constantly  wounded  in  his  affections  and  his  pride, 
Moliere  was  unhappy  and  sad.  Ill-mated  with  a  wife  of 
whom  he  was  justly  jealous,  whom  he  passionately  loved,  and 
unable  to  find  at  home  consolation  for  the  vexations  and 
troubles  of  his  life,  he  sought  in  work  and  incessant  activity, 


1  According  to  the  custom  in  France  in  1669,  the  valets  de  chambre- 
tapissiers  made  the  king's  bed  every  day,  together  with  the  regular  valets. 
They  were  obliged  to  take  care  of  the  campaign  furnishings,  and  to  arrange 
his  Majesty's  furniture. 

222 


the  only  relief  which  a  proud  spirit  could  enjoy.  Psyche, 
Les  Fourberies  de  Scapin  (The  Impostures  of  Scapin),  and 
La  Comtesse  d'Escarbagnas  produced  in  1671,1  disclosed  nei- 
ther the  sadness  nor  the  increasing  suffering  of  their  author. 
Les  Femmes  Savantes  at  first  had  little  success;  it  was  pro- 
nounced cold.  The  marvelous  fineness  of  portraiture,  the 
accuracy  of  judgment,  the  delicacy  and  elegance  of  the  dia- 
logue, were  not  relished  until  later.  When  Moliere  wrote 
Le  Malade  Imaginaire  —  the  last  of  the  repeated  blows  which 
he  had  aimed  at  physicians  —  he  was  in  worse  health  than 
usual ;  his  friends,  his  actors,  urged  him  not  to  play.  ' '  What 
do  you  want  me  to  do?  "  he  asked.  "  There  are  fifty  poor 
workmen  who  have  only  their  day's  wages  on  which  to  live; 
what  will  they  do  if  we  do  not  play  ?  I  should  reproach  myself 
for  having  neglected  to  give  them  bread,  if  only  for  a  single 
day." 

Moliere  was,  his  contemporaries  say,  a  comedian  from  head 
to  foot.  "  It  seemed  as  if  he  had  several  voices;  everything 
spoke  with  him,  and  by  a  step,  by  a  smile,  by  a  wink  of  the 
eye  and  a  movement  of  the  hand,  he  could  make  more  things 
understood  than  the  greatest  talker  could  express  in  an  hour." 
During  the  fourth  performance  of  Le  Malade  Imaginaire,  on 
the  seventeenth  of  February,  1693,  Moliere 's  health,  under- 
mined by  unhappiness  and  overwork  gave  way.  He  had  a 
hemorrhage  which  a  few  hours  later  ended  his  life,  at  fifty-one 
years  of  age.  According  to  the  ridiculous  customs  of  the  time 
he,  as  an  actor,  was  denied  Christian  burial. 

In  the  preface  to  the  edition  of  Moliere  of  1682  —  attrib- 
uted by  some  to  Marcel,  by  others  to  La  Grange  and  Vinot— 
is  found  the  following :  * '  Everyone  regretted  a  man  so  rare, 
and  still  regrets  him  every  day,  but  particularly  the  persons 
who  have  good  taste  and  delicacy.  He  was  named  the  Ter- 
ence2 of  his  century;  this  one  word  includes  all  the  praises 
which  might  be  bestowed  on  him."  La  Fontaine  expressed 
his  sorrow  and  regret  at  the  death  of  Moliere,  in  this  touching 
epitaph : 

1  The  same  year  the  first  French  opera  Pomone  was  produced.     The 
Academy  of  Music  had  been  founded  in  1669. 

1 A  celebrated  Roman  comic  poet  who  lived  in  the  second  century  before 
Christ. 

223 


THE    HISTORY   OP    FRENCH   LITERATURE 

Sous  ce  tombeau  gisent  Plaute  '  et  Terence. 
Et  cependant  le  seul  Moliere  y  git: 
Leurs  trois  talents  ne  formaient  qu'un  esprit, 
Dont  le  bel  art  rejouissait  la  France. 
Us  sont  partis,  et  j'ai  peu  d'esperance 
De  les  revoir  malgre  tous  nos  efforts; 
Pour  un  long  temps  selon  toute  apparence, 
Terence,  Plaute  et  Moliere  sont  morts.2 

The  great  glory  of  Moliere  is  to  have  been  the  poet  of 
humanity,  and  at  the  same  time  the  poet  of  his  own  epoch. 
Not  only  was  he  the  first  to  perceive  and  chastise  the  ridicu- 
lous elements  in  things  which  his  contemporaries  esteemed 
and  took  seriously,  but  he  has  incarnated  men's  vices  and 
whims  in  creations  which  have  an  imperishable  verity.  His 
characters  have  a  physiognomy  so  distinct,  so  personal,  that 
they  may  be  recognized  among  a  thousand ;  we  think  that  their 
epoch  lived  with  them,  yet  each  century  finds  in  them  its  own 
leanings  and  vices;  they  are  at  once  real  as  individuals  and 
eternally  true  as  types.  They  are  not  creatures  of  fantasy, 
but  of  real  life,  with  warm  blood  pulsing  through  their  veins, 
and  his  characters,  with  their  human  frailties  and  their  eter- 
nal veracity  have  raised  Moliere  to  one  of  the  greatest  poets  of 
all  time.  The  plot  which  sweeps  his  actors  along,  and  envel- 
ops them  like  an  atmosphere,  is  resplendent  with  the  fire  of 
his  imagination.  It  is  a  warmth  of  gayety  which  warms  us, 
which  impassions  all  this  comic  world,  and  scintillates  from  all 
the  objects  in  it,  "  like  the  light  of  a  southern  sky,  in  a  thou- 
sand brilliant  effects."  This  burst  of  joyous  humor,  this 
sweep  of  imagination,  increases  in  Moliere  along  with  the 
severe  gift  of  philosophic  observation.  In  proportion  as  his 
reason  becomes  more  profound  and  his  insight  more  pene- 
trating, his  comic  power  increases  and  burns.  It  is,  so  to 
speak,  the  lyricism  of  irony  and  sarcastic  gayety,  linked  with 
pure  sportiveness  and  sparkling  laughter.  In  a  clear,  pre- 

1  A  Roman  dramatist  (second  century  B.C.). 

2  Under  this  tomb  rest  Plautus  and  Terence — yet  only  Moliere  rests 
here:  their  three  talents  formed  but  one  mind,  whose  fine  art  delighted 
France.    They  are  gone,  and  I  have  little  hope  of  seeing  them  again,  in 
spite  of  all  our  efforts;  for  a  long  time,  according  to  all  appearances, 
Terence,  Plautus,  and  Moliere  are  dead. 

224 


THE    CLASSIC    FRENCH    SCHOOL 

else  and  natural  manner  he  speaks  the  language  of  the  cities, 
of  the  provinces,  of  all  classes  and  of  all  passions.  Le  Malade 
Imaginaire  is  its  last  expression  and  most  striking  example. 
In  this  play  Moliere  approaches  the  ideal  of  free  and  unre- 
strained imagination,  which  made  the  charm  and  poetry  of  the 
ancient  Greek  comedy. 

Saintsbury  says :  ' '  Of  all  dramatists,  ancient  and  modern, 
Moliere  is  perhaps  that  one  who  has  borne  most  constantly  in 
mind  the  theory  that  the  stage  is  a  lay  pulpit,  and  that  its 
end  is  not  merely  amusement,  but  the  reformation  of  manners 
by  means  of  amusing  spectacles.  .  .  .  Brunetiere  says :  ' '  One 
may  almost  say  that,  during  two  centuries,  a  comedy  was  criti- 
cised with  Moliere  as  a  basis ;  in  other  words,  that  during  this 
time  he  was  the  standard  for  Europe. ' ' 

To  the  accusation  made  against  him  by  some  pedantic 
critics,  who  objected  to  his  plays  because  they  were  not  made 
strictly  to  conform  to  rules,  Moliere  answered  with  a  convinc- 
ing argument :  ' '  Je  voudrais  bien  savoir  si  la  grande  regie  de 
toutes  les  regies  n  'est  pas  de  plaire. ' ' a  And  all  the  world  who 
loves  true  comedy  says  of  him  with  La  Fontaine :  ' '  Voila 
mon  Homme!  " 

Moliere  was  not  a  member  of  the  Academy;  his  vocation 
had  closed  its  doors  to  him.  It  was  almost  a  hundred  years 
after  his  death,  in  1778,  that  a  bust  of  him  was  erected  be- 
neath which  were  carved  these  words:  "  Rien  ne  manque  a 
sa  gloire,  il  manquait  a  la  notre. ' ' 2 

The  three  masterpieces  of  Moliere  are  Le  Misanthrope,  Le 
Tartuffe,3  and  Les  Femmes  Savantes. 

LE  MISANTHROPE 

Alceste  is  one  of  the  most  loyal  of  men.  He  lacks  only 
one  virtue  —  indulgence  to  the  frailties  of  mankind.  His 
peevish  wisdom  pardons  no  form  of  human  weakness.  He  is 
ready  to  denounce  as  a  lie,  as  treason,  the  most  harmless  ex- 
pression that  implies  a  concession  to  the  customs  of  the  world. 

1  "  I  should  really  like  to  know  if  the  great  rule  of  all  rules  is  not  that 
of  pleasing." 

z  "  His  glory  lacks  nothing;  he  was  lacking  to  ours." 

*  Moliere  himself  wrote  it  Tartuffe;  the  French  Academy  changed  the 
spelling  to  Tartufe. 

16  225 


THE    HISTORY   OF    FRENCH   LITERATURE 

To  the  bad  humor  of  Alceste,  Moliere  opposes  the  optimistic 
character  of  Philinte.  Alceste  falls  in  love  with  a  coquette; 
faithful  Eliante  would  much  better  deserve  his  love,  but 
he  loves  Celimene  in  spite  of  himself.  The  indignation  of 
Alceste  is  often  justified  by  the  vices  of  that  society  in  the 
midst  of  which  he  lives :  the  hypocrisy  and  sweetish  spiteful- 
ness  of  the  prude,  Arsinoe ;  the  fatuity  of  marquises ;  the  van- 
ity of  the  court  poet,  and  especially  the  perfidious  coquetry 
of  Celimene,  are  offenses  that  wound  profoundly  a  man  of 
intelligence  and  noble  character.  Nor  is  Alceste  ridiculous 
except  at  certain  moments,  when  the  violence  of  his  passions 
contrasts  too  strongly  with  the  causes  which  provoke  them. 
Whether  Philinte  has  praised  bad  verses,  or  whether  corrupt 
judges  have  rendered  an  unfair  decision,  the  misanthrope 
makes  no  distinction ;  he  bursts  out,  he  becomes  indignant,  he 
declares  himself  resolved  to  flee  from  society,  to  withdraw 
from  this  wicked  life  —  forgetting  that  there  would  be  little 
merit  in  loving  men  if  they  were  perfect,  and  that  the  rarest 
and  most  difficult  virtue,  charity,  consists  precisely  in  loving 
them  in  spite  of  their  faults. 

Moliere  was  loudly  censured  as  having  ridiculed  in  the 
person  of  Alceste,  the  Duke  de  Montausier,  a  man  of  honor 
and  virtue,  but  of  blunt,  discourteous  manners.  The  duke, 
informed  that  he  had  been  put  on  the  stage  by  Moliere, 
threatened  vengeance;  but  being  persuaded  to  see  the  play, 
he  sought  the  author  instantly,  embraced  him  repeatedly,  and 
assured  him  that  if  he  (Moliere)  had  really  thought  of  him 
when  composing  the  Misanthrope,  he  regarded  it  as  an  honor 
which  he  could  never  forget.  It  is  of  Montausier  that  Boi- 
leau  had  said,  in  his  satire  to  Valaincour :  ' '  The  smile  on  his 
face  is  in  bad  humor. ' ' 

Le  Misanthrope  pictures  the  suffering  in  the  heart  of  a 
man  who  loves,  and  sees  himself  deceived  without  his  own 
sentiments  becoming  extinguished  (the  suffering  of  Moliere 
himself).  The  Misanthrope  is  the  most  correct  work  of 
Moliere,  and  a  great  number  of  its  verses  have  become  pro- 
verbial. For  example : 

L'ami  du  genre  humain  n'est  point  du  tout  mon  fait.1 
1  To  be  a  friend  of  the  human  race  does  not  at  all  suit  me. 

226 


Ces  haines  vigoureuses 

Que  doit  dormer  le  vice  aux  ames  vertueuses. l 

Un  endroit  ecarte1 

Ou  d'etre  homme  d'honneur  on  ait  la  liberte.2 

TARTUFFE 

A  rich  and  pious  bourgeois,  Orgon,  has  been  imprudent 
enough  to  receive  in  his  home  a  man  whose  apparent  devout- 
ness  has  deceived  him.  His  mother,  Madame  Pernelle,  is, 
like  him,  the  dupe  of  this  sacrilegious  and  deceitful  humbug. 
In  vain  have  his  brother-in-law,  his  son,  and  specially  his  ser- 
vant, the  frank  and  sprightly  Dorine,  discovered  the  rascal 
beneath  the  mask  of  holiness.  Orgon  first  opens  his  eyes  at 
the  moment  when  he  has  personal  proofs  of  the  knavery  of 
his  protege  —  at  the  moment  when  his  entire  estate,  when  his 
very  house,  belong  to  the  scoundrel  who  expels  him  from  it; 
when  his  honor,  his  liberty,  and  perhaps  his  life,  are  in  im- 
minent danger.  A  verse  often  quoted  reads : 

On  n'y  respecte  rien,  chacun  y  parle  haut, 

Et  c'est  tout  justement  la  cour  du  roi  Pe'taud.3 

LES  FEMMES  SAVANTES 

Les  Femmes  savantes  is,  so  to  speak,  the  continuation  of 
Les  Precieuses  ridicules.  One  of  the  finest  and  best  poised 
pieces  of  Moliere,  it  succeeded  completely  at  the  court  and  in 
the  world  of  letters,  but  did  not  receive  from  the  public  the 
welcome  which  it  deserved.  What  Moliere  attacks  here  again 
is  not  so  much  science  as  pedantry.  The  unwholesome  air  of 
pedantry  and  the  ' '  higher  life  ' '  has  infected  the  home  of  a 
simple  and  good  bourgeois,  Chrysale.  His  wife  Philaminte, 

1  The  vigorous  hatred  that  vice  should  arouse  in  virtuous  souls. 

z  A  sequestered  spot  where  one  is  free  to  be  a  gentleman  of  honor. 

8  This  phrase  from  Tartuffe  has  become  proverbial  as  meaning  "  when 
everybody  wishes  to  speak  at  once."  At  one  time  in  France,  beggars 
named  a  chief  whom  they  facetiously  called  "King  Petaud"  (from  the 
Latin,  peto,  "  I  demand  ").  He  had  no  authority  whatever  over  his  sub- 
jects. 

227 


THE    HISTORY    OP    FRENCH   LITERATURE 

his  sister  Belise,  and  Armande,  his  oldest  daughter,  converse 
all  day  with  pedants  of  poor  tone,  whom  they  consider  sub- 
lime geniuses.  To  look  after  the  cares  of  the  household  is  be- 
neath them.  They  are  entirely  given  up  to  pretentious  bab- 
bling, to  literary  and  philosophic  divagations ;  they  quote  Des- 
cartes, Epicurus,  Plato;  they  seek  animals  in  the  moon,  and 
weigh  the  verses  of  M.  Trissotin,  an  aspirant  to  the  dowry  of 
Henriette,  the  second  daughter  of  Chrysale,  who  has  been  able 
to  escape  the  contagion  of  maternal  folly.  She  is  one  of  the 
most  sympathetic  creations  of  Moliere.  With  the  consent  of 
her  father,  she  has  promised  her  hand  to  a  good  man,  Cli- 
tandre,  a  declared  enemy  of  false  knowledge  and  pedantry. 
Henriette  has  not  concealed  from  Trissotin  the  fact  that  she 
has  only  repugnance  for  his  person,  and  that  her  heart  is  with 
Clitandre ;  but  he  does  not  pride  himself  on  delicacy,  and  will 
not  renounce  for  such  a  light  rebuff  the  fine  dower  which  he 
covets.  Ariste,  brother  of  Chrysale,  and  the  thinker  of  the 
comedy,  intervenes  very  opportunely.  At  the  moment  when 
they  are  about  to  sign  the  marriage  contract,  he  brings  the 
news  that  Chrysale  is  ruined.  Trissotin  perceives,  a  little  late, 
that  it  is  not  at  all  consistent  with  his  dignity  to  accept  a  heart 
which  does  not  yield  itself ;  and  he  retires.  Ariste  has  brought 
only  false  news ;  the  disasters  of  which  he  spoke  are  of  his  own 
invention.  It  is  a  stratagem  which  he  has  employed,  in  order 
to  undeceive  Philaminte  and  oblige  Trissotin  to  show  the 
depths  of  his  soul.  Philaminte  is  constrained  to  yield,  and 
Clitandre  will  marry  Henriette. 


L'AVARE  » 

Harpagon  loves  nothing  in  the  world  but  himself  and  his 
ducats.  Solely  occupied  in  guarding  and  increasing  his 
estate,  he  sees  in  his  children  only  enemies  and  domestic  spies. 
In  return,  his  daughter  Elise,  and  his  son  Cleante,  have  nei- 
ther feelings  of  tenderness  nor  respect  for  him.  Left  to  them- 
selves, without  guide  and  counsel,  they  are  guilty  of  the  most 
blameworthy  actions.  Elise  authorizes  the  man  whom  she  loves 

1  L'Avare,  which  in  Germany  is  the  moat  popular  of  Moliere's  piays,  is 
founded  on  Aulularia,  a  comedy  by  Plautus. 

228 


THE    CLASSIC    FKENCH   SCHOOL 

to  come  to  the  paternal  house  in  disguise,  and  Cleante  ruins 
himself  in  advance  by  loans  from  usurers.  Harpagon  takes 
it  into  his  head  to  marry  them.  About  their  inclinations  and 
their  tastes  he  cares  little :  for  his  son  he  has  chosen  a  widow ; 
he  destines  his  ' '  daughter  for  Monsieur  Anselme, ' '  a  prudent 
and  wise  man  "  not  more  than  fifty  years  of  age  ";  he  himself 
wishes  to  marry  a  young  girl  of  poor  parents,  whose  beauty 
has  charmed  him.  He  discovers  that  his  son  is  in  love  with 
this  young  girl,  yet  it  makes  little  difference  to  him.  But 
an  accident  affecting  that  which  he  holds  most  dear  makes 
him  for  a  moment  forget  his  fine  projects.  His  treasure,  a 
cash  box  containing  ten  thousand  crowns,  has  disappeared. 
He  wishes  to  have  the  people  of  the  city  and  suburbs  arrested 
en  masse.  It  turns  out  that  his  domestic,  Valere,  the  dis- 
guised lover  of  Elise,  has  stolen  the  precious  cash  box,  and  he 
restores  it  to  Harpagon  only  on  condition  that  he  will  marry 
his  daughter  and  son  according  to  their  own  wishes.  It  is 
found  that  Valere  is  the  son  of  Monsieur  Anselme,  and  the 
brother  of  that  Marianne  who  is  sought  in  marriage  by  Har- 
pagon and  his  son.  This  discovery  ends  their  difficulties  : 
Valere  is  to  marry  Elise,  and  Cleante  will  wed  Marianne. 
Harpagon,  to  whom  the  cash  box  has  been  returned,  consents, 
provided  that  he  be  put  to  no  expense  whatsoever,  and  a  new 
coat  be  made  for  him  for  the  wedding. 

"  George  Dandin  "  is  concerned  with  a  rich  peasant,  who 
has  married  a  young  lady  of  noble  family,  in  spite  of  the  coun- 
sel of  his  reason,  and  finds  cause  to  repent,  having  strayed 
into  this  role  of  a  ridiculous  rustic  gentleman.  "  Tu  1'as 
voulu,  George  Dandin, ' ' x  has  become  a  well  recognized 
quotation. 

Le  Bourgeois  Gentilhomme  is  the  eternal  image  of  the 
parvenu  —  of  the  ridiculous  figure  cut  by  a  good  man  when 
trying  to  imitate  the  manners  of  a  caste  which  is  not  his  own. 

L' Amour  Medecin — the  play  which,  as  Moliere  tells  us  in 
his  Preface,  was  "  proposed,  written,  learned,  and  presented 
in  five  days  " — is  the  true  point  of  departure  of  the  attacks 
against  the  Faculty  (of  Medicine).  He  had  already  aimed 
several  attacks  against  physicians  in  Don  Juan,  but  this  time 

1  "You  would  have  it  so,  George  Dandin." 
229 


THE    HISTORY    OF    FRENCH    LITERATURE 

he  attacked  them  face  to  face,  and  began  a  campaign  which  he 
continued  in  several  plays. 

Sir  Walter  Scott  says:  "  The  medical  faculty  at  Paris 
in  the  middle  of  the  seventeenth  century  was  at  a  very  low 
ebb.  Almost  every  physician  was  attached  to  some  particular 
form  of  treatment,  which,  exercised  on  his  patients  with- 
out distinction,  probably  killed  in  as  many  instances  as  it 
effected  a  cure.  Their  exterior  —  designed,  doubtless,  to  in- 
spire respect  by  its  peculiar  garb  and  formal  manner  —  was 
in  itself  matter  for  ridicule.  They  ambled  on  mules  through 
the  city  of  Paris  attired  in  antique  and  grotesque  dress,  the 
jest  of  its  laughter-loving  people,  and  the  dread  of  those  who 
were  unfortunate  enough  to  be  their  patients.  The  consulta- 
tions of  these  sages  were  conducted  in  a  barbarous  Latinity; 
or,  if  they  condescended  to  use  the  popular  language,  they  dis- 
figured it  with  an  unnecessary  profusion  of  technical  terms, 
or  rendered  it  unintelligible  by  a  prodigal  tissue  of  scholastic 
formalities  of  expression.  The  venerable  dullness  and  pe- 
dantic ignorance  of  the  faculty  was  incensed  at  the  ridicule 
cast  upon  it  in  L' Amour  Medecin,  especially  as  four  of  its 
most  distinguished  members  were  introduced  under  Greek 
names,  invented  by  Boileau  for  his  friend's  use.  The  consulta- 
tion held  by  these  sages,  which  respects  everything  save  the 
case  of  a  patient;  the  ceremonious  difficulty  with  which  they 
are  at  first  brought  to  deliver  their  opinions ;  the  vivacity  and 
fury  with  which  each  finally  defends  his  own,  predicting  the 
instant  death  of  the  patient  if  another  treatment  be  followed 
— all  this  seemed  to  the  public  highly  comical,  and  led  many 
reflecting  men  to  think  that  Lisette  was  not  far  wrong  in 
contending  that  a  sick  man  should  not  be  said  to  die  of  a  fever 
or  consumption,  but  of  four  doctors  and  two  apothecaries. 
The  farce  enlarged  the  sphere  of  Moliere  's  enemies ;  but  as  the 
poet  suffered  none  of  the  faculty  1  to  prescribe  for  him,  their 
resentment  was  of  the  less  consequence." 

1  Moliere  aaked  a  favor  of  the  king  for  the  son  of  a  physician.  "  What, 
Moliere,"  exclaimed  the  monarch,  "you,  have  a  doctor!  What  does  he 
do?"  "Sire,"  said  Moliere,  "we  argue,  he  prescribes  remedies  for  me;  I 
take  none,  and  get  well." 


230 


THE    CLASSIC    FRENCH   SCHOOL 

LA  FONTAINE 

Jean  de  La  Fontaine,  born  in  1621  at  Chateau-Thierry, 
died  in  1695.  After  an  indifferent  education  he  entered  the 
Oratory  *  at  Reims,  at  the  age  of  twenty,  to  study  theology, 
but  soon  left  it,  not  having  an  ecclesiastical  vocation.  He 
came  and  went  from  city  to  city,  amusing  himself  everywhere, 
leading  a  nonchalant  life. 

Pour  moi  le  monde  entier  etait  plein  de  delices, 

J'etais  touche  des  fleurs,  des  doux  sons,  des  beaux  jours, 

Mes  amis  me  cherchaient  et  parfois  mes  amours.2 

Of  a  careless,  flighty  and  impressionable  disposition,  he 
was  altogether  a  creature  of  circumstance.  Just  as  he  had 
been  influenced  by  the  reading  of  a  few  books  to  study  for  the 
priesthood,  so  an  ode  of  Malherbe  's  made  him  a  poet  at  twenty- 
five  years  of  age.  In  order  to  check  the  insouciant  life  La 
Fontaine  was  leading,  his  father  arranged  a  marriage  for  him 
with  Marie  H6ricart,  and  gave  him  a  position  as  maitre  des 
eaux-et-forets  in  1647.  But  he  neglected  alike  his  'position 
and  his  wife,  whom  he  left  alone  at  Chateau-Thierry,  spending 
most  of  his  time  in  Paris,  which  gay  capital  he  finally  made 
his  home.  Here  he  was  welcomed  and  loved  by  the  great 
world,  the  princes  of  Conde  and  Conti,  the  Dukes  of  Bour- 
gogne  and  Vendome.  Fouquet  gave  him  a  pension,  and  later, 
when  this  minister  was  disgraced  and  in  danger  of  losing  his 
life,  La  Fontaine  pleaded  for  royal  clemency  in  his  poem 
Elegie  aux  Nymphes  de  Vaux: 

Du  magnanime  Henri  qu'il  contemple  la  vie; 
Des  qu'il  se  put  venger,  il  en  perdit  1'envie, 
Inspirez  a  Louis  cette  meme  douceur.8 

1  A  Brotherhood  founded  by  Philippe  of  Neri,  in  Italy,  for  the  education 
of  youths  and  the  training  of  preachers,  and  brought  into  France  in  1611 
by  Cardinal  de  Be>ulle. 

2  For  me  the  whole  world  was  full  of  pleasure:  I  was  moved  by  the 
flowers,  by  sweet  sounds,  by  the  beautiful  days;  I  was  sought  by  my 
friends,  and  sometimes  by  my  loves. 

3  May  the  life  of  the  magnanimous  Henry — who,  as  soon  as  he  could 
avenge,  lost  all  desire  to — inspire  Louis  with  this  same  gentleness. 

231 


Henrietta  of  England,  Duchess  of  Orleans,  attached  La 
Fontaine  to  herself  as  gentleman  servant;  the  Duchess  of 
Bouillon  kept  him  at  her  home  in  the  country;  he  lived  for 
twenty  years  at  the  home  of  Madame  de  la  Sabli&re,  beautiful 
and  witty,  who  received  many  of  the  fashionables,  and,  see- 
ing herself  ruined,  reorganized  her  home,  but  kept,  as  she  said 
to  her  friends,  "  her  dog,  her  cat,  and  La  Fontaine." 

When  she  died,  M.  and  Madame  d'Hervart  received  the 
poet,  already  old  and  quite  isolated,  in  their  home  and  cared  for 
him  the  remainder  of  his  life.  When  d'Hervart  was  on  his 
way  to  make  the  proposal  to  La  Fontaine,  he  met  him  in  the 
street.  "  I  was  coming  to  ask  you  to  stay  with  us,"  he  said. 
"  I  was  going  there,"  answered  La  Fontaine  with  the  most 
touching  confidence.  He  remained  until  his  death,  content  to 
go  occasionally  to  Chateau-Thierry,  as  long  as  his  wife  lived, 
in  order  to  sell,  with  her  consent,  some  tract  of  land.  His 
friends  had  tried  to  reconcile  him  to  her,  and,  with  this  ob- 
ject, had  sent  him  to  Chateau-Thierry;  he  returned  without 
having  seen  her.  "  I  did  not  find  my  wife,"  said  he;  "  she 
was  at  evening  prayers."  His  absence  of  mind  was  some- 
times incredible,  and  his  artlessness  was  often  a  source  of 
great  merriment  at  the  famous  reunions  of  Auteuil.  He  was 
nicknamed  "  le  bonhomme,"  which  led  Moliere  to  remark: 
"  Let  us  not  make  fun  of  '  le  bonhomme,'  he  will  perhaps  out- 
live us."  Louis  XIV  permitted  La  Fontaine  to  present  to 
him  in  person,  his  published  Fables.  La  Fontaine  went 
to  Versailles  for  the  purpose,  and  made  a  very  good  presenta- 
tion speech,  but  forgot  to  bring  the  Fables.  Neverthe- 
less, the  king  received  him  graciously,  and  gave  him  a  purse 
filled  with  gold.  La  Fontaine  promptly  mislaid  the  purse, 
which  was  found  later  among  the  cushions  of  the  carriage. 
He  was  expected  one  day  at  a  friend's  house  to  dinner:  "  I 
come  from  the  burial  of  an  ant,"  he  said,  on  arriving  late. 
"  I  followed  the  convoy  to  the  cemetery,  and  returned  with 
the  family  to  their  own  home." 

In  spite  of  his  absence  of  mind,  his  original  simplicity 
of  nature  and  his  incapacity  in  ordinary  life,  La  Fontaine 
was  able  to  judge  the  literary  merit  as  well  as  the  moral  quali- 
ties of  his  famous  friends.  When  they  were  together,  they 
spoke  of  their  diversions,  of  science  and  literature  and  of  their 

232 


THE    CLASSIC   FRENCH   SCHOOL 

own  productions.  They  gave  each  other  advice  when  one  of 
them  "  succumbed  to  the  malady  of  the  period  and  wrote  a 
book."  La  Fontaine  gave  a  charming  picture  of  their 
famous  reunions  in  his  novel  Les  Amours  de  Psyche  et  de 
Cupidon.  The  episode  in  the  Golden  Ass  of  Appuleius  be- 
came, under  La  Fontaine's  pen,  a  novel  of  adventure  written 
in  an  ironical  and  facetious  but  graceful  style,  interspersed 
with  verses.  He  describes  the  delightful  intimacy  enjoyed 
by  these  four  illustrious  friends,  whom  he  names  Acanthe 
(Racine),  Ariste  (Boileau),  Gelaste  (Moliere),  and  Polyphile 
(La  Fontaine). 

La  Fontaine  wrote  with  a  great  promiscuity  all  genres 
of  poetry:  comedies,  verses,  ballads,  epistles,  and  epigrams, 
but  his  masterworks  are  his  Fables  in  twelve  books  (1668- 
1695),  and  his  Conies  et  Nouvelles  in  five  books  (1665- 
1685).  He  was  the  fabuliste  inimitable.1  Up  to  his  time, 
the  writers  of  fables  had  been  only  philosophers  and  satirists. 
La  Fontaine  rejuvenated  the  fable.  The  ancient  fable  con- 
cerned itself  only  with  the  meaning  of  the  story  and  the  moral 
thereof.  La  Fontaine's  superiority  lies  in  the  narration  it- 
self; the  moral  is  not  unduly  obtruded  —  story  and  lesson 
are  equally  considered.  The  dominant  trait  of  his  genius  is 
his  universal  sympathy  and  love ;  he  portrayed  all  ranks,  from 
king  to  peasant,  with  warmth  of  feeling  and  a  happy  humor. 
He  discovered  the  secret  and  profound  charm  of  nature, 
animating  it  with  his  inexhaustible  and  gracious  genius.  He 
was  flexible  and  naive  at  times,  elegant,  noble  and  penetrating, 
beneath  a  simplicity  of  form.  He  himself  describes  himself : 

Je  m'avoue,  il  est  vrai,  s'il  faut  parler  ainsi, 
Papillon  du  Parnasse  et  semblable  aux  abeilles, 
A  qui  le  bon  Platon  compare  nos  merveilles : 
Je  suis  chose  le"gere  et  vole  a  tout  sujet, 
Je  vais  de  fleur  en  fleur  et  d'objet  en  objet. 
A  beaucoup  de  plaisirs  je  mele  un  peu  de  gloire.2 

'The  word  fabuliste  is  La  Fontaine's  invention,  and  as  late  as  1709  was 
still  in  use  as  designating  only  La  Fontaine. 

*  I  confess  myself,  it  is  true,  if  one  must  so  talk,  a  butterfly  of  Parnassus, 
and  like  the  bees  to  which  the  good  Plato  compares  our  marvels.  I  am 
but  a  light  thing,  and  fly  to  every  subject;  I  go  from  flower  to  flower,  and 
from  object  to  object.  With  a  great  many  pleasures  I  mix  a  little  glory. 

233 


An  eminent  and  ingenious  writer,  M.  Taine,  has  found  in 
the  fables  of  La  Fontaine  all  the  classes,  all  the  professions, 
all  the  society  of  the  seventeenth  century :  in  the  lion,  the  ab- 
solute king ;  in  the  fox,  the  courtier ;  in  the  wolf,  the  warrior ; 
in  the  bear,  the  country  gentleman;  in  the  ox,  the  peasant, 
and  so  on.  However  this  may  be,  it  is  true  that  La  Fontaine 
immediately  finds  the  precise  word  which  characterizes  the 
role  of  his  personages,  just  as  he  finds  the  swift  stroke  of 
delineation  which  makes  us  see  their  exterior ;  the  heron,  with 
his  long  beak  fastened  like  a  handle  to  an  equally  long  neck; 
the  weasel,  with  the  pointed  nose;  Triste-Oiseau  Le  Hibou 
(The  Moping  Owl),  Le  Bat  Ronge-Maille  (Nibble-Stitch),— 
and  the  rest.  In  his  Fables  he  is  the  poet  of  all  time,  of  all 
nations,  of  all  ages  of  men.  The  child  finds  amusement  in  his 
works,  the  adult  instruction,  and  the  scholar  admires  them. 
They  are  of  equal  merit  with  the  most  beautiful  works  of  the 
"  grand  siecle,"  as  much  by  the  irreproachable  purity  of 
their  morality  as  by  the  inimitable  perfection  of  their  style. 
The  poet  took  from  its  source  the  old  apologue  of  the  Orient, 
magnified  through  the  centuries  by  the  successive  inventions 
of  the  Greeks,  the  Romans,  and  the  moderns ;  he  made  himself 
the  universal  heir  of  popular  common  sense ;  he  gathered  care- 
fully all  these  fables,  transcribed  them,  put  them  in  verse,  as 
he  says  modestly  in  his  preface;  and  they  are  no  longer  the 
fables  of  Vishnu-Sarma,  of  yEsop,  of  Phaedra,  of  Babrius,  of 
Planude;  they  are  the  fables  of  La  Fontaine.  Indeed,  poetic 
originality  does  not  consist  in  inventing  the  subject,  but  in 
discovering  the  poetry  in  the  subject.  The  invention  of  La 
Fontaine  is  his  manner  of  narration,  his  admirable  style,  that 
happy  imagination  which  everywhere  diffuses  interest  and 
life.  "  He  does  not  compose,"  says  La  Harpe,  "  he  con- 
verses. If  he  tells  a  story,  he  is  persuaded  he  has  seen!  " 
His  erudition,  his  eloquence,  his  philosophy  —  all  that  is  best 
in  him  of  imagination,  memory,  sensibility  —  is  made  use  of  to 
interest  you.  Hence  the  phenomenon  which  had  not  been 
seen  since  the  Odyssey — that  singular  but  incontestable  alli- 
ance of  the  highest  poetry  with  the  most  naive  description, 
hence,  also,  it  comes,  according  to  Moliere's  expression,  that  the 
great  minds  of  France  will  not  efface  the  bonhomme  (La  Fon- 
taine) . 

234 


THE    CLASSIC    FRENCH    SCHOOL 

La  Fontaine's  Fables  were  published  in  three  collections 
—  the  first  dedicated  to  the  Dauphin  (son  of  Louis  XIV), 
the  rest  to  Madame  de  Montespan.  They  are,  as  he  says,  ' '  Une 
ample  comedie  en  cent  actes  divers  et  dont  la  scene  est 
1  'univers. ' ' *  Sometimes  they  reach  the  heights  of  the  epic 
or  lyric,  but  "  come  down  again  with  a  smile."  At  times 
elegiac  and  satiric,  one  also  finds  in  them  eloquent  discourses 
and  philosophical  developments.  The  Duchesse  de  Bouillon 
called  him  her  fablier,2  saying  that  he  produced  fables  as  a 
tree  produces  fruit.  Madame  de  Sevigne  describes  his 
Fables  thus:  "  C'est  un  panier  de  cerises;  on  veut  en  choisir 
les  plus  belles,  et  le  panier  reste  vide. ' ' 3  His  famous  fable, 
La  Cigale  et  la  Fourmi,  is  a  masterpiece  of  the  modest  sim- 
plicity of  his  style.  Other  fables  held  in  especial  esteem  are 
the  touching  Odyssey  of  Les  deux  Pigeons;  Le  Chene  et  le 
Roseau;  Les  Animaux  malades  de  la  Peste;  Le  Savetier  et  le 
Financier;  La  Laitiere  et  le  Pot-au-lait;  L'Alouette  et  ses 
petits,  avec  le  Maitre  d'un  Champ;  L'Homme  et  la  Couleuvre 
— eloquent  plea  of  animals  against  man;  Le  Paysan  du 
Danube — a  protest  against  war  and  its  consequences;  Le 
Chat,  la  Belette  et  le  petit  Lapin;  Le  Loup  et  le  Chienj  Le 
Pot  de  terre  et  le  Pot  de  fer;  Le  Meunier,  son  Fils,  et  I'Ane; 
L'Huitre  et  les  Plaideurs;  Philemon  et  Baucis.* 

Of  these  fables  Taine  writes:  "  They  are  our  epics,  we 
have  no  other.  I  need  not  take  away  this  name  from  the  in- 
sipid Henriade,  nor  from  the  artificial  and  sentimental  med- 
ley which  Chateaubriand  entitled  Les  Martyrs.  And  this  epic 
of  La  Fontaine  is  Gallic;  always  varied,  always  new.  It  is 

1  "  An  ample  comedy  in  one  hundred  diverse  acts  of  which  the  scene  is 
the  universe." 

2  ier,  the  usual  French  termination  of  fruit-trees:  "pommier,  poirter,': 
etc. 

1 "  It  is  a  basket  of  cherries;  in  choosing  the  finest  the  basket  is  emptied." 
'English  titles:  The  Locust  and  the  Ant;  The  Two  Pigeons;  The  Oak 
and  the  Reed;  The  Animals  Sick  with  the  Plague;  The  Cobbler  and  the 
Banker;  The  Milkmaid  and  the  Milk-can;  The  Lark,  its  Young,  and  the 
Owner  of  a  Field;  The  Man  and  the  Adder,  The  Peasant  of  the  Danube;  The 
Cat,  the  Weasel,  and  the  Little  Rabbit;  The  Dog  and  the  Wolf;  The  Earthen 
Pot  and  the  Iron  Pot;  The  Miller,  His  Son,  and  the  Ass;  The  Oyster  and  the 
Litigants;  Philemon  and  Baucis.  Ivan  Kriloff,  the  Russian  La  Fontaine, 
borrowed  thirty-seven  of  his  fables  from  the  French  author. 

235 


THE    HISTORY   OF   FRENCH   LITERATURE 

in  touching  these  instincts,  that  La  Fontaine  became  so  pop- 
ular. With  Rabelais,  Voltaire,  and  Moliere,  he  is  our  most 
faithful  mirror.  Plato,  it  is  said,  having  learned  that  the 
great  king  wished  to  know  the  Athenians,  gave  the  advice  to 
send  him  the  comedies  of  Aristophanes;  if  the  great  king 
would  wish  to  know  us  it  is  the  books  of  La  Fontaine  which 
we  should  send  to  him." 

La  Fontaine's  Contes  were  written  for  the  Duchesse  de 
Bouillon  (1664).  They  were  patterned  after  the  Decameron 
of  Boccaccio,  and  on  this  account  La  Fontaine  has  been  ac- 
cused of  immorality.  Yet  we  must  remember  that  these  Contes 
were  written  in  the  seventeenth  century,  and  dedicated  to  a 
worthy  woman  of  high  standing.  Let  us  bear  in  mind,  too, 
what  we  read  in  Burton's  Anatomy  of  Melancholy:  "  One  of 
the  greatest  amusements  of  our  ancestors  was  reading  Boc- 
caccio aloud — an  entertainment  of  which  the  effects  were 
speedily  visible  in  the  literature  of  our  country. ' '  La  Fontaine 
himself  does  not  lay  much  stress  on  the  Contes  as  stories, 
taking  it  for  granted  that  everyone  knew  the  subject  matter; 
but  with  respect  to  their  artistic  form,  he  has  said : 

Contons,  mais  contons  bien,  c'est  le  point  principal; 

C'est  tout;  a  cela  pres,  je  vous  conseille 

De  dormir  comme  moi  sur  1'une  et  1'autre  oreille.1 

However,  the  Contes,  as  a  whole,  with  their  refined  licentious- 
ness, are  inferior  as  a  picture  of  manners  to  the  coarser  Fabli- 
aux which  inspired  them. 

In  the  Contes,  La  Fontaine  —  as  Balzac  did  later  in  his 
Contes  drolatiques — uses  with  adroitness  many  ancient 
phrases.  He  was  the  only  one  of  the  great  writers  of  the 
seventeenth  century  who  had  any  knowledge  of  the  old 
Erench  literature.  Particularly  beautiful  is  the  story  of  Le 
Faucon,  wherein  a  poor  knight,  having  no  other  gift  for  his 
lady  love,  prepares  a  dainty  morsel  for  her  with  his  pet  falcon. 

H.  Taine,  in  his  La  Fontaine  et  ses  Fables  writes :  ' '  The 
preachers,  the  philosophers,  the  poets  formed  a  chorus  to 

1  Let's  tell  stories,  but  let's  tell  them  well,  that's  the  main  point. 
It  is  the  whole  thing;  as  for  the  rest,  I  advise  you 
To  sleep  as  I  do,  soundly. 

236 


praise  the  imposing  beauty  of  well-ordered  morals  and  liter- 
ature, in  a  solemn  anthem  accompanied  by  the  ecclesiastical 
organ.  Bossuet  leads  them  and  the  audience  contemplates 
with  awe  the  august  display  of  violet  robes,  plumed  hats 
and  of  spangled  gowns,  which  arrange  themselves  in  beautiful 
order  before  the  king.  In  a  corner  is  a  good  man  who  yawns 
or  laughs.  The  sermon  bores  him,  he  dislikes  ceremonies,  con- 
siders the  rows  too  regular,  the  organ  too  loud.  He  places 
on  his  prie-dieu  the  book  of  Saint- Augustine  put  into  his  hands 
by  a  friend.  Furtively  he  draws  from  his  pocket  an  edition 
of  Rabelais,  makes  signs  to  his  neighbors  Chaulieu  and  the 
Greai  Prior,1  and  whispers  low  to  them  some  drollery. ' '  His 
nurse  during  his  last  illness  voiced  the  sentiments  of  all  who 
knew  this  charming  and  rare  creature  and  his  original  sim- 
plicity of  nature:  "  God  would  never  have  the  courage  to 
condemn  him." 

1  The  Chevalier  de  Vendome,  grand  prieur  de  France. 


CHAPTER   XVI 

LA    CHAIBE1 

IN  order  to  make  religion  understood  and  observed  by 
the  people,  sermons  were  preached  in  the  popular  language 
at  an  early  date.  The  sermons  of  the  famous  orator,  Saint- 
Bernard,  Abbot  of  the  Cistercian  Monastery  of  Clairvaux, 
(1091-1153,  canonized  1174),  were  delivered  partly  for  the 
people  and  partly  for  the  instruction  of  the  monks.  Of  these 
sermons  only  three  hundred  and  forty  in  Latin,  addressed  to 
the  monks,  have  been  preserved.  It  was  by  such  orators  an 
Saint-Bernard,  Pierre  1'Ermite,  Foulques  de  Neuilly  and 
Maurice  de  Sully  that  the  crusades  were  inspired.  At  the 
same  time  the  foundation  and  development  of  the  Dominican 
and  Franciscan  orders  of  the  twelfth  century  gave  a  great 
impetus  to  religious  eloquence.  In  the  fourteenth  century 
there  was  a  decline  in  oratory.  Nevertheless,  we  owe  to  this 
period  the  ablest  orators,  whose  works  have  come  down  to  us 
— Pierre  d'Ailly,  de  Clemangis  and  Jean  Charlier,  better 
known  as  Gerson,  Chancellor  of  the  University  and  preacher 
of  the  court.  In  his  sixty  sermons  one  finds  the  defects  of 
his  time — the  use  of  secular  erudition,  the  abuse  of  allegory, 
and  bad  taste.  Yet  his  eloquence  touches  us,  for  it  makes  one 
feel  the  sufferings  and  calamities  which  the  orator  deplores. 

In  the  fifteenth  century,  two  Franciscan  monks,  Menot  and 
Olivier  Maillard,  owe  their  fame  to  the  boldness  of  an  elo- 
quence that  feared  not  to  speak  to  the  people  in  their  own 
language,  replete  with  rude  and  trivial  imagery. 

In  the  sixteenth  century,  theological  discussions  rendered 
an  eminent  service  to  the  progress  of  letters  by  enriching  the 
common  language  with  an  abundance  of  ideas  formerly  con- 

1  The  pulpit. 
238 


LA   CHAIRE 

fined  to  Latin.  Calvin  especially  was  an  important  factor, 
with  his  Institution  Chretienne. 

The  seventeenth  century,  profoundly  penetrated  by  reli- 
gious influence,  produced  a  group  of  brilliant  pulpit  orators. 
The  formulation  of  new  precepts  and  the  reform  of  the  clergy 
gave  renewed  impulse  to  the  eloquence  of  the  pulpit,  which 
became  a  school  of  psychology.  Le  Pere  Bourgoing,  le  -Pere 
Lejeune,  le  Pere  Senault,  le  Pere  Claude  de  Lingendes,  Fran- 
cois de  Sales,  Saint  Vincent  de  Paul,  Du  Perron  and  Mas- 
caron  had  illuminated  Christian  doctrine  at  the  beginning  of 
the  century,  and  were  the  best  preachers  before  Bossuet.  It 
was  in  the  epoch  of  Louis  XIV  that  the  eloquence  of  the 
pulpit  reached  its  highest  expression:  the  development  of 
political  and  judicial  eloquence  was  hardly  possible  during 
that  reign  of  absolutism,  but  the  preachers  were  spurred  on 
to  their  utmost  capacity  by  the  aesthetic  tastes  of  the  court. 
Among  these  were:  Bossuet,  Bourdaloue,  Fenelon,  Flechier, 
and  Massillon. 

The  preachers  of  the  early  part  of  the  century  were  ora- 
tors rather  than  moralists.  Bossuet  and  Bourdaloue  were 
both  moralists  and  orators.  They  began  to  preach,  Bossuet 
about  1655,  and  Bourdaloue  some  five  years  later.  Although 
Bossuet  was  more  attached  to  the  teaching  of  doctrine,  both 
turned  their  minds  to  the  examination  of  things  interior. 

BOSSUET 

Jacques-Benigne  Bossuet,  born  at  Dijon  in  1627,  belonged 
to  a  family  of  magistrates.  He  early  entered  the  ecclesiasti- 
cal state,  and  from  his  childhood  took  delight  in  the  Bible — 
especially  the  Old  Testament — to  such  an  extent  that  later 
what  he  wrote  was  sometimes  composed  almost  wholly  of  Bibli- 
cal citations  and  allusions.  At  sixteen  years  of  age  the  little 
abbot,  as  Tallemant  called  him,  essayed  his  first  sermon  at  the 
Hotel  de  Rambouillet ;  at  eleven  o'clock  in  the  evening, 
mounted  on  a  tabouret,  he  improvised  a  sermon  on  death  be- 
fore the  most  imposing  assembly  of  all  the  great  minds  of  the 
time,  which  caused  Voiture  to  remark:  "  Je  n'ai  jamais 
entendu  precher  ni  si  tot  ni  si  tard."  ("I  have  never 
heard  preaching  so  early  or  so  late.")  Yet,  in  spite  of  his 

239 


THE    HISTORY    OF    FRENCH    LITERATURE 

success,  he  pursued  his  studies  in  retirement.  He  emerged 
from  it  to  publish  his  Exposition  de  la  Foi  Catholique,  one 
of  a  series  of  pamphlets  which  make  up  the  book  Histoire 
des  variations  des  eglises  protestantes  —  a  very  clear,  precise 
work  in  which  he  reduced  to  the  essential  points  the  contro- 
versy between  Catholics  and  Protestants.  He  was  from  that 
time  on  considered  one  of  the  pillars  of  the  church,  and  he 
was  all  his  life  struggling  against  the  exaggerations  of  the 
Jansenists,  who  leaned  too  much  to  severity;  of  the  Jesuits, 
who  inclined  too  much  toward  indulgence ;  of  the  Protestants, 
who  accorded  too  much  to  reason;  and  of  the  Quietists,  who 
deferred  too  much  to  sentiment.  His  Exposition  is  a  history 
of  reform  from  the  Catholic  point  of  view,  yet  sufficiently 
impartial.  His  reasoning  may  be  summed  up  thus:  "  The 
Protestant  confession  of  faith  has  changed  often;  hence  it  is 
false."  The  reply  was  that  these  modifications  argued  in 
favor  of  the  Protestants,  inasmuch  as  religion  is  progressive, 
and  God  reveals  as  men  have  need  of  revelation.  Bossuet  met 
the  Protestants  equally  in  the  field  of  politics. 

It  was  at  this  time  that  Louis  XIV,  desirous  that  his  work 
should  be  continued  after  him,  resolved  to  have  the  heir  to 
the  throne  reared  under  his  eyes.  To  this  end  he  intrusted 
the  prince's  education  to  Bossuet,  who  was  then  Bishop  of 
Condom;  and  the  prelate  composed  for  his  pupil  the  books 
which  he  needed  and  which  he  could  not  otherwise  procure. 
Such  is  the  origin  of  the  Discours  sur  I' Histoire  Universelle, 
of  the  Traite  de  la  Connaissance  de  Dieu  et  de  Soi-meme,  and 
of  the  Politique  Tiree  de  I'Ecriture  Sainte."  The  Discours 
is  a  philosophy  of  history,  from  the  Christian  point  of  view, 
from  the  beginning  of  the  world  to  Charlemagne.  The  work 
is  divided  into  three  parts.  The  first  is  concerned  with  a 
rapid  exposition  of  events;  the  second  presents  the  sequence 
of  religion,  and  shows  that  events  have  disposed  themselves 
marvelously — be  it  among  the  Jews,  or  in  the  Roman  Empire 
— for  the  propagation  of  Christianity.  The  third  part,  and 
the  most  interesting,  considers,  from  a  purely  human  point 
of  view,  the  causes  of  the  grandeur  and  decadence  of  empires. 
Thus  Bossuet  reviews  the  history  of  the  Egyptians,  the  Greeks, 
and  the  Romans,  with  whom  he  is  more  especially  concerned. 
These  studies  show  a  great  knowledge  of  history,  and  the 

240 


LA    CHAIRE 

work  as  a  whole  forms  a  magnificent  picture  in  which  the 
thought  may  be  criticised  but  not  the  execution.  Montes- 
quieu's Grandeur  et  Decadence  des  Remains  proceeds  largely 
from  Bossuet's  Discours. 

The  Connaissance  de  Dieu  is  an  elementary  treatise  of 
philosophy,  outside  of  theology,  in  which  Bossuet  proves  the 
existence  of  God  and  the  immortality  of  the  soul;  by  argu- 
ments borrowed  from  Descartes.  In  the  chapters  demonstrat- 
ing the  existence  of  a  supreme  intelligence  by  the  perfection 
of  its  works,  there  is  found  an  anatomic  description  of  the 
human  body,  in  which  the  minute  exactitude  of  detail  is 
equaled  only  by  the  clearness  of  exposition  and  the  happy 
coloring  of  the  style. 

The  Politique  is  the  theory  of  absolute  government :  kings 
are  established  by  God,  and  are  responsible  only  to  Him. 
They  must  do  good  for  their  people;  but  if  they  stray  from 
this  duty,  the  people  are  none  the  less  obliged  to  obey,  and 
they  never  have  the  right  to  remind  kings  of  their  duties. 
This  work  is  composed  essentially  of  passages  from  the  Bible, 
accompanied  by  a  short  commentary.  We  must  admit  that 
Bossuet  often  forces  the  text  to  draw  from  it  his  principles. 
The  Protestant  Jurien,  who  answered  Bossuet,  used  the  same 
texts  and  several  others  which  Bossuet  had  neglected,  to 
establish  the  principle  of  the  sovereignty  of  the  people,  and 
of  the  people's  right  to  demand  an  account  from  the  king 
of  the  use  he  has  made  of  his  power.  Louis  XIV  had  had 
disputes  with  the  Pope  as  a  temporal  sovereign ;  *  he  seized 
this  occasion  to  have  it  decided  by  the  clergy  just  what  might 
be  the  reciprocal  rights  of  kings  and  popes.  An  ecclesiastical 
assembly  was  called  in  1681.  Bossuet  presided,  and  delivered 
his  discourse  on  the  Unity  of  the  Church.  The  assembly  ac- 
cepted the  opinions  of  the  councils  of  Bale  and  Constance, 
which  had  declared  the  general  councils  superior  to  popes. 
It  ruled,  furthermore,  that,  in  ordinary  circumstances,  the 
decisions  of  the  Pope  could  not  be  valid  except  inasmuch  as 
they  were  approved  by  all  the  clergy — an  approval  which 
would  be  established  by  the  absence  of  all  complaint.  These 
rules,  which  were  worked  out  by  Bossuet,  constitute  what  is 

1The  king  claimed  the  right  to  collect  the  revenues  of  the  vacant 
bishoprics;  the  Pope  opposed  this  claim. 
17  241 


THE    HISTORY   OF   FRENCH   LITERATURE 

called  the  liberties  of  the  Gallican  Church.  The  articles 
provoked  violent  attacks  from  the  Pope's  adherents,  and 
Bossuet  answered  in  a  new  work  entitled  Defense  de  la  decla- 
ration du  clerge  de  France.  In  it  he  places  the  spiritual  power 
above  the  temporal  power,  and  demonstrates  that  the  doctrine 
of  the  infallibility  of  the  Pope  dates  only  from  the  fifteenth 
century. 

The  last  theological  struggle  of  Bossuet,  was  that  which 
he  had  to  sustain  against  Fenelon  on  the  subject  of  Quietism.1 
Fenelon  in  his  Explication  des  Maximes  des  Saints  seemed  to 
approve  this  doctrine,  and  was  attacked  by  Bossuet,  and 
censured  by  the  Pope;  but  Fenelon  appeared  greater  in  his 
defeat  than  Bossuet  in  victory.  Then  Quietism  disappeared 
almost  entirely.2 

Bossuet  is  not  only  an  illustrious  theologian;  he  is  also 
the  greatest  religious  orator  of  France.  His  sermons  had 
made  him  famous  before  his  books.  He  did  not  compose  them 
in  advance;  he  confined  himself  to  outlining  the  plan  and 
writing  a  few  brilliant  passages;  then,  after  having  steeped 
himself  in  his  subject,  he  mounted  the  pulpit  and  abandoned 
himself  to  the  inspiration  of  the  moment.  It  is  these  sketches 
of  sermons  that  have  been  recovered;  even  in  this  imperfect 
state  they  are  yet  superior  to  the  completed  works  of  many 
other  orators.  Among  the  doctors  of  the  church,  Saint 
Chrysostom  was  Bossuet 's  model  for  eloquence,  and  Saint 
Augustine  his  guide  for  the  study  of  religion. 

But  the  triumph  of  Bossuet  is  the  funeral  oration.  No 
one  has  equalled  him  in  this  kind  of  discourse,  which  displays 
him  in  all  the  pomp  of  eloquence.  Three  of  these  orations 
especially  are  placed  in  the  first  rank,  because  of  the  interest 


1  Quietism  is  the  mystical  doctrine  which  makes  Christian  perfection 
consist  in  love  of  God  and  inaction  of  the  soul,  without  exterior  works. 
Quietism  had  representatives  in  all  epochs.  Its  best-known  chief  was  the 
Spanish  priest,  Molinos,  who,  toward  the  middle  of  the  seventeenth  century, 
published  an  ascetic  book  idealizing  religion  to  such  a  degree  that  it  became 
incomprehensible  to  the  common  people.  The  celebrated  Madame  Guyon 
adopted  the  ideas  of  Molinos,  and  wrote  about  Quietism.  (Larousse.) 

1  The  hard  and  obdurate  character  which  Bossuet  showed  to  the  Prot- 
estants, he  also  made  known  to  his  illustrious  colleague,  Fenelon,  in  the 
great  quarrel  on  Quietism. 

242 


LA    CHATRE 

of  the  subject  and  the  manner  in  which  the  orator  has  adorned 
it.  In  the  funeral  oration  on  the  Queen  of  England — daughter 
of  Henry  IV,  and  wife  of  Charles  I,  whom  the  English  revolu- 
tion had  sent  to  the  scaffold — Bossuet  traces  in  bold  strokes 
both  the  progress  of  the  Anglican  heresy  and  the  history  of  the 
revolution  accomplished,  and  makes  an  oratorical  portrait  of 
Cromwell  which  has  remained  famous.  The  funeral  oration 
on  the  daughter  of  this  queen,  Henriette  d 'Angleterre,  and 
especially  the  oration  on  the  Prince  de  Conde — the  great 
Conde — permitted  the  orator  to  make  the  most  brilliant  pic- 
tures. Conde  had  figured  in  the  Thirty  Years'  War,  and  in 
the  Fronde;  Bossuet 's  recital  of  the  battle  of  Rocroy,  and  his 
comparison  of  the  impetuosity  of  Conde  with  the  wise  delibera- 
tion of  Turenne,  are  the  salient  parts  of  this  work.  But  a 
passage  truly  sublime  is  the  peroration  in  which  the  orator 
calls  on  all  men  of  all  ranks  to  come  and  render  homage  to 
the  illustrious  dead ;  ' '  then,  in  a  trembling  voice,  returning 
to  himself  and  indicating  his  white  hair,  he  bids  farewell  to 
his  audience,  and  announces  that  henceforth  he  shall  con- 
secrate to  God  alone  the  remnants  of  a  weakening  voice  and 
an  ardor  which  is  dying." 

The  eloquence  of  Bossuet  possessed  the  quality  of  boldness 
and  primitive  strength.  He  kept  before  him  one  idea — to 
strike  vigorously  into  the  minds  of  his  auditors  the  religious 
truths  he  announced.  To  attain  this  end,  he  found,  as  if  by 
instinct,  the  most  magnificent  parallels,  the  grandest  images; 
his  ardent  imagination  animated  all,  and  when  he  showed  the 
nothingness  of  human  things  and  the  pettiness  of  men  before 
God,  he  filled  the  mind  with  terror. 

La  Bruyere  has  eulogized  him  by  calling  him  a  "  Father 
of  the  Church."  His  name  belongs  among  the  great  scholars 
who  have  defended  dogma,  and  among  the  writers  who  have 
employed  the  French  language  with  the  greatest  force  and 
eloquence.  The  Meditations  sur  I'Evangile,  and  the  Eleva- 
tions stir  les  Mysteres  are  still  classed  with  his  best  produc- 
tions; but  his  best-known  works  are  his  Oraisons  Funebres, 
and  his  Discours  sur  I'Histoire  Universelle. 

Bossuet,  in  spite  of  his  immense  superiority,  was  not  an 
orator  according  to  the  standards  of  the  seventeenth  century. 
He  rises  to  great  heights,  but  he  falls  again ;  he  is  sublime,  but 

243 


THE    HISTORY   OP    FRENCH    LITERATURE 

uneven.  In  the  time  of  Louis  XIV,  men  especially  loved  regu- 
larity, measure.  Bossuet  was  the  theologian  of  the  epoch,  but 
the  orator  was  Bourdaloue.  He  died  in  1704. 


BOURDALOUE 

Louis  Bourdaloue,  born  at  Bourges  in  1632,  entered  the 
Society  of  Jesus  at  the  age  of  sixteen  years.  All  his  life  he 
was  occupied  with  two  things  only — confession  and  preaching ; 
it  was  in  the  confessional  that  he  gathered  the  material 
for  his  sermons.  These  were  not  improvised  in  part,  like 
Bossuet 's;  they  were  scholarly  compositions,  carefully  thought 
out,  written  at  leisure;  and  delivered  with  lowered  eyes,  to 
avoid  all  distraction.  Bourdaloue  considered  his  subject  in  three 
or  four  ways,  which  made  the  subdivisions  of  his  discourse; 
then  he  entered  into  the  points  at  issue  without  ever  letting 
himself  be  turned  from  his  object ;  an  admirable  logician,  his 
logic  was  so  powerful,  he  entwined  you,  he  held,  and  you 
could  not  escape  him.  Madame  de  Sevigne,  who  admired  him, 
has  noted  the  peculiar  effect  of  his  eloquence  on  his  audience : 
"  He  has  often  taken  my  breath  by  the  extreme  attention 
with  which  one  listens  to  the  force  and  justness  of  his  argu- 
ments. I  breathed  only  when  he  was  pleased  to  end."  The 
Marechal  de  Gramont  was  once  so  absorbed  by  the  force  of  the 
orator's  deductions  that  he  exclaimed  in  the  very  midst  of  the 
sermon,  "  Zounds,  he  is  right!  "  Another  time,  the  Prince 
de  Conde,  seeing  him  enter  the  pulpit  of  Saint-Sulpice,  cried, 
"  Silence,  here  is  the  enemy!  "  Boileau  deferred  nobly  to 
his  great  faculties  as  a  moralist  when  he  said,  "  In  satire  on 
women  I  am  only  the  ape  of  Bourdaloue. ' ' 1 

This  eloquence  of  Bourdaloue  was  of  a  peculiar  nature, 
it  consisted  neither  in  the  movement  of  his  discourse,  nor  in 
brilliant  phrases,  nor  in  great  and  beautiful  images:  it  arose 
from  his  array  of  proofs,  from  the  clear  and  facile  presenta- 
tion of  ideas.  "  There  is  not  in  Bourdaloue,"  said  Joubert, 
"  either  perfect  precision  or  volubility."  He  pleased  es- 

1  After  one  of  Bourdaloue's  sermons,  Louis  XIV  said  to  him:  "Father, 
you  ought  to  be  satisfied  with  me;  Madame  de  Montespan  is  in  Clagny." 
"Yes,  Sire,"  answered  Bourdaloue,  "but  God  would  be  more  satisfied  if 
Clagny  were  seventy  leagues  from  Versailles." 

244 


LA   CHAIRE 

pecially  by  his  fortitude  and  truth.  Many  of  his  sermons, 
however,  have  lost  for  us  much  of  their  interest.  The 
enormous  partitions  and  subdivisions  of  his  subject,  wrought 
with  a  view  to  the  salvation  of  dependent  souls,  are  somewhat 
fatiguing.  He  is  interesting  to  the  modern  reader  chiefly  for 
such  sermons  as  Sur  Madeleine,  Sur  la  Pensee  de  la  Mort, 
Sur  la  Severite  Evangelique,  Sur  la  Medisance  (Slander). 

Bourdaloue  was  active  up  to  the  time  of  his  death,  in  1704, 
in  vain  appealing  to  his  superiors  for  permission  to  rest.  He 
had  lived  to  see  the  first  successes  of  Massillon,  and  had 
pronounced  thereon  the  words  of  Saint  John  the  Baptist: 
' '  He  must  wax  great,  but  I  must  perish. ' '  Massillon,  indeed, 
became  great;  but  Bourdaloue  in  the  eyes  of  posterity  has 
remained  greater. 

FENELON 

Francois  de  Salignac  de  La  Mothe  de  Fenelon,  born  at 
the  chateau  de  Fenelon  in  Perigord,  in  1651,  was  also  a  cele- 
brated prelate  and  preacher ;  but  only  two  of  his  sermons  have 
been  preserved.  The  vivid  imagination,  the  penetrating  im- 
pressiveness  of  the  orator  in  these  two  productions  make  us 
regret  most  emphatically  the  loss  of  the  others;  but  Fenelon 
improvised  his  sermons,  and  rarely  took  the  trouble  of  tracing 
their  plan  in  writing.  He  preached  with  enthusiasm  without 
preparation.  He  is  in  contrast  with  Bossuet:  it  is  the  spirit 
of  sweetness  opposed  to  that  of  force. 

Saint-Simon  has  given  us  an  admirable  portrait  of  Fenelon. 
He  has  dwelt  upon  this  prelate 's  noble  manner,  the  seduction 
in  his  face,  the  desire  he  had  to  please  everyone,  and  the 
ease  with  which  he  succeeded.  The  air  of  the  grand  seigneur 
with  which  he  invested  every  word  and  action  enhanced  his 
dignity  without  ever  imparting  to  it  the  spirit  of  pride  and 
disdain.  He  had  the  charm  which  delights  men's  minds  and 
hearts.  These  same  qualities  are  found  in  his  works — ex- 
quisitely replete  with  Christian  sweetness  and  Attic  grace. 
Nothing  is  more  precious  than  his  little  treatise  on  L 'Educa- 
tion des  Filles.  He  shows  in  this  treatise  the  importance  of 
the  early  education  of  women,  who,  being  called  upon  some 
day  to  become  mothers  of  families,  must  in  their  turn  be  the 
first  teachers  of  their  children ;  and  he  emphatically  criticises 

245 


THE    HISTORY   OP   FRENCH   LITERATURE 

the  ignorance  in  which  the  young  are  left.  He  wishes  children 
to  be  instructed  while  being  interested,  by  amusing  them,  and 
making  them  study  things  rather  than  books.  We  should  not, 
he  tells  us,  limit  ourselves  to  teaching  them  religion ;  we  must 
make  them  love  it.  As  for  their  defects,  we  must  try  to 
prevent  these  from  birth,  in  order  not  to  have  to  repress  them 
when  developed.  The  treatise  ends  with  a  chapter  on  the 
duties  of  women,  and  advice  on  the  means  of  making  capable 
governesses. 

Chosen  as  the  preceptor  of  the  Due  de  Bourgogne,  grand- 
son of  Louis  XIV,  Fenelon  composed  several  works  of  instruc- 
tion. His  Fables  in  prose,  and  his  Dialogues  des  Morts  gently 
insinuated  into  the  mind  of  his  pupil  the  general  principles 
of  morality.  Telemaque  was  intended  to  teach  him  political 
science  and  the  art  of  reigning.  This  singular  novel  is  a  very 
beautiful  work  of  imagination  and  politics.  In  it  Fenelon 
shows  himself  less  desirous  of  making  his 'pupil  careful  of 
his  rights  than  to  preserve  him  from  the  pitfalls  of  luxury, 
and  the  dangers  of  despotism.  The  political  ideas  set  forth 
carry  the  author  into  the  eighteenth  century  and  make  him 
the  forerunner  of  Montesquieu  and  Rousseau.  He  showed 
that  the  apparently  glorious  age  was  undermined  by  the  in- 
justice, egotism,  pride,  and  rapacity  of  the  great. 

Telemaque  is  the  development  of  an  episode  in  the  Odyssey. 
In  the  Homeric  poem,  Telemachus,  tired  of  waiting  for  his 
father,  who  has  not  yet  returned  from  the  siege  of  Troy, 
takes  it  upon  himself  to  seek  him.  This  voyage,  which 
occupies  a  minor  place  in  the  ancient  poem,  is  the  subject  of 
Fenelon 's  book.  Telemachus  travels  through  Sicily,  Egypt, 
Phoenicia,  the  Isle  of  Crete,  Magna  Graecia,  or  Southern  Italy 
— sometimes  threatened  with  death ;  a  slave,  a  king,  a  general ; 
at  times  alone,  more  frequently  in  the  company  of  the  goddess 
of  wisdom,  who  has  taken  the  form  of  Mentor,  his  governor, 
in  order  to  inspire  in  him  the  ideas  of  an  ideal  morality,  of 
a  sound  political  theory,  and  devotion  to  humanity.  Here 
and  there  are  graceful  and  interesting  pictures  that  divert 
the  reader ;  such  are :  the  sojourn  of  Telemachus  in  the  island 
of  Ogygia,  where  Calypso  ruled,  and  his  descent  into  the 
subterranean  fires — passages  containing  an  admirable  picture 
of  the  happiness  of  good  men  in  another  life ;  the  adventures 

246 


LA   CHAIRE 

• 

of  Philoctetes,  abandoned  in  the  Isle  of  Lemnos — and  so  on. 
Fenelon  criticises  ostentation,  conquests,  absolute  power — that 
is  to  say,  the  whole  governmental  system  of  Louis  XIV — 
most  unfavorably.  Louis  XIV  would  not  pardon  the  writer, 
and  Cambrai  was  the  place  of  exile  where  the  prelate  passed 
his  life,  far  from  the  king  and  the  favors  of  the  court.  It 
meant  much  to  have  drawn  upon  himself  the  hatred  of  the 
prince;  but  he  suffered  a  greater  misfortune  when,  in  em- 
bracing Quietism  in  his  Maximes  des  Saints,  he  incurred  the 
censures  of  Bossuet  and  the  Holy  See.  Condemned  by  Pope 
Innocent  XII  for  this  work,  Fenelon  gave  a  great  example  of 
Christian  submission  when  he  himself  announced  to  his 
diocesans  the  sentence  passed  upon  him,  and  forbade  the  read- 
ing of  his  book.  This  prompt  submission  brought  him  more 
honor  than  the  victory  won  by  Bossuet  through  violence. 
"  The  Eagle  of  Meaux  "  was  not  satisfied  until  he  had 
silenced  "  the  Swan  of  Cambrai,"  x  whose  incontestable  merit 
perhaps  overshadowed  him,  and  whose  fine  action  prompted 
the  Pope 's  severe  criticism  of  Bossuet :  ' '  If  Fenelon  loves 
God,  Bossuet  does  not  love  his  neighbor."  Fenelon  died  in 
1715. 

FLECHIER 

Esprit  Flechier,  son  of  a  chandler,  was  born  in  1636  at 
Pernes,  a  small  city  of  the  diocese  of  Carpentras,  and  died  in 
1710.  He  began  by  being  a  bel  esprit,  very  fond  of  the  graces 
of  style,  and  ended  as  a  bishop  (of  Nimes),  commendable  and 
grave.  He  had  the  good  sense  never  to  be  ashamed  of  his  origin. 
Someone  in  his  presence  commented  on  the  strange  fact  that 
the  holder  of  an  episcopal  see  should  have  emerged  from  a  shop. 
"  If  you  had  been  born  in  my  place,"  replied  Flechier,  "  it 
is  probable  that  you  would  still  be  making  candles."  He 
composed  a  large  number  of  funeral  orations.  The  first  is  a 
tribute  of  gratitude  to  Madame  de  Montausier,  the  same  Julia, 
who  with  her  mother,  presided  at  the  soirees  of  the  Hotel  de 
Eambouillet :  the  orator  delights  in  tracing  the  charm  of  these 
reunions  where  there  were  "  gathered  so  many  persons  of 

1  Bossuet,  Bishop  of  Meaux,  was  called  I'Aigle  de  Meaux,  and  Fenelon, 
Bishop  of  Cambrai,  le  Cygne  de  Cambrai. 

247 


THE    HISTORY   OF   FRENCH   LITERATURE 

quality  and  merit;  where  there  was  wisdom  without  pride, 
polish  without  affectation."  His  masterpiece  is  the  funeral 
oration  of  Turenne,  in  which,  by  dint  of  art,  he  rises  to 
eloquence  in  recounting  the  military  exploits,  and  especially 
the  death  of  Turenne,  struck  by  a  cannon  ball  in  the  midst  of 
battle.  There  still  exist  some  panegyrics  by  Flechier,  and  two 
mediocre  Histoires.  The  most  curious  of  his  writings  has 
been  known  only  since  1884.  It  is  his  Memoires  sur  les  Grands 
Jours  d'Auvergne,  a  recital,  at  once  piquant  and  grave,  of  the 
repression  that  should  be  exercised  on  the  exactions  of  the 
lords  of  Auvergne.  It  is  an  infinitely  instructive  chapter  of 
history,  as  well  as  a  work  full  of  life,  well  planned,  and 
written  in  the  best  language.  At  this  time  (in  1665)  crime 
was  fitly  suppressed  in  the  cities;  but  in  the  countryside, 
especially  in  the  mountains,  there  were  noble  families  who 
were  veritable  brigands,  who,  by  means  of  terrorizing  or  cor- 
ruption, were  assured  of  immunity.  Nevertheless,  there  were 
occasions  when  justice  took  its  course;  from  time  to  time,  at 
undetermined  periods,  the  king  would  suddenly  send  a  com- 
mission charged  with  receiving  the  complaints  of  the  poor 
people,  and  condemning  without  pity  all  the  guilty  ones, 
whoever  they  might  be.  This  is  what  was  called  the  ' '  Grands 
Jours. ' '  The  commission  sent  out  in  1665,  discovered  a  series 
of  horrible  crimes,  unpunished,  and  pronounced  sentence  of 
death  with  confiscation  of  property  on  more  than  three  hun- 
dred nobles.  Flechier,  who  was  a  tutor  in  the  home  of  one 
of  the  influential  members  of  this  extraordinary  tribunal, 
makes  a  chronicle  of  these  atrocities  in  an  ingenious  and  fas- 
cinating style. 

The  style  of  Flechier — very  labored,  wise,  symmetrical, 
and  antithetical — has  nothing  of  true  eloquence  and  profound 
inspiration ;  a  little  slow,  it  is,  nevertheless,  worth  studying  as 
an  example  of  art  employing  the  artifices  of  elocution.  It  is 
said  that  Flechier  received  lessons  in  this  art,  and  that  he  had 
studied  under  a  master  who  bound  himself  to  make  orators  in 
a  given  time.  Villemain  called  him  the  French  Socrates. 


LA    CHAIRE 

MASSILLON 

Jean  Baptiste  Massillon  was  born  in  1663  at  Hyeres,  in 
Provence.  He  belonged  to  a  family  of  small  birth,  and 
entered  into  the  congregation  of  the  Orat&ire,  preached  at  the 
court  from  1699  to  1719,  and  passed  the  rest  of  his  life  at 
Clermont,  Auvergne,  of  which  he  had  been  named  bishop,  and 
where  he  died  in  1742. 

The  first  time  he  preached  before  Louis  XIV,  in  the  midst 
of  a  court  entertained  only  by  the  glory  of  the  king,  he  took 
as  his  text  these  words  of  the  Gospel :  ' '  Happy  are  those  who 
weep  ";  and  he  had  the  skill  to  draw  from  this  a  high  lesson 
of  morality,  while  at  the  same  time  conveying  very  delicate 
flattery  for  the  king.  Louis  XIV,  later,  said  to  him : ' '  Father, 
I  have  heard  great  orators;  I  have  been  very  content  with 
them.  Every  time  that  I  have  heard  you,  I  have  been  very 
much  discontented  with  myself."  When  the  king  died,. 
Massillon,  who  alone  remained  of  the  century 's  great  orators, 
paid  the  last  tributes  of  France  to  the  memory  of  Louis.  The 
oration  begins  with  a  sublime  sentence.  The  king,  during  his 
lifetime,  had  been  overwhelmed  with  flattery,  and  hailed  with 
the  title,  "  Great."  Massillon,  looking  over  the  heads  of  the 
assembly,  and  seeing  the  royal  cenotaph,  exclaimed:  "  God 
alone  is  great,  my  brethren!  "  These  words  have  redounded 
more  to  Massillon 's  glory  than  all  the  rest  of  his  work.  Louis 
XV  was  at  that  time  only  seven  years  old;  nevertheless, 
Massillon  was  asked  to  preach  before  him,  and  it  was  on  this 
occasion  that  he  composed  the  Petit  Careme,  an  epitome  of  ten 
sermons,  addressed  less  to  the  young  king  than  to  his  entourage. 
Everything  in  the  Petit  Careme  hinges  on  the  duties  of 
superiors  toward  inferiors.  There  are,  beneath  the  touching 
gentleness  of  the  orator,  certain  tendencies  which  were  in  ac- 
cord with  the  sentiments  of  the  philosophers  of  the  epoch: 
moreover,  these  philosophers  held  Massillon  in  singular  esteem. 
Voltaire,  who  always  kept  one  of  Massillon 's  volumes  on  his 
table,  admired  very  much  the  effectiveness  of  his  diction,  and 
the  rare  purity  of  his  style,  saying  of  him:  "He  is  the 
preacher  who  knew  the  world  best;  more  flowery  than  Bour- 
daloue,  more  agreeable,  and  with  an  eloquence  which  bespeaks 
the  courtier,  the  academician,  and  the  man  of  brains;  withal, 
a  moderate  and  tolerant  philosopher." 

249 


THE    HISTORY   OF    FRENCH   LITERATURE 

Massillon  wrote  his  sermons  and  learned  them  by  heart, 
like  Bourdaloue;  but  while  reciting  them,  he  cast  his  eyes 
on  the  audience,  and  his  gestures  added  to  the  charm  of  the 
sermon — for  he  exercised  a  veritable  charm.  Bossuet  had 
addressed  himself  to  the  imagination,  Bourdaloue  to  reason; 
Massillon  addressed  himself  to  the  heart.  The  first  preached 
dogma ;  the  second,  dogma  and  morality ;  the  third,  especially 
morality.  Although  he  did  not  astound  his  hearers  like 
Bossuet,  he  sometimes  attained  effects  of  great  eloquence.  We 
are  told,  for  instance,  that  in  his  sermon  on  the  Petit  N ombre 
des  Elus  (On  the  Chosen  Few),  at  the  moment  when  he  said, 
"  If  Jesus  should  suddenly  appear  in  the  midst  of  us,  how 
many  righteous  men  would  he  find?  " — the  whole  audience 
rose  in  astonishment.  This  sermon  made  so  great  a  sensation 
in  Paris  that  Massillon  was  called  to  Versailles  to  preach  be- 
fore Louis  XIV.  It  is  said  of  the  bellringer  of  St.  Eustache, 
in  Paris,  where  the  sermon  was  preached,  that  he  went  about 
exclaiming :  "  It  is  I,  it  is  I  who  have  rung  in  the  famous  ser- 
mon." The  sermon  on  "  Alms,"  and  that  on  the  "  Sanctity 
of  the  Christian,"  produced  analogous  effects.  These  works 
are  part  of  the  Grand  Careme,  which  is  composed  of  forty- 
two  sermons. 

Massillon  was  the  last  great  orator  of  the  seventeenth- 
century  pulpit.  The  following  extract  is  from  "  On  the 
Chosen  Few  ": 

' '  I  shall  confine  myself  to  you,  my  brethren,  who  are  here 
assembled.  I  do  not  speak  of  the  rest  of  men,  I  regard  you 
as  if  you  were  the  only  ones  on  earth ;  and  this  is  the  thought 
which  occupies  and  terrifies  me.  I  am  supposing  that  this  is 
your  last  hour,  and  the  end  of  the  world ;  that  the  heavens  are 
about  to  open  over  your  heads,  and  Jesus  Christ  to  appear  in 
His  glory  in  the  midst  of  this  temple,  and  that  you  are 
assembled  in  it  only  to  await  Him  like  trembling  criminals  on 
whom  one  is  to  pronounce  either  a  sentence  of  forgiveness  or 
a  decree  of  eternal  death.  For  there  is  no  use  flattering  your- 
selves ;  you  will  die  such  as  you  are  to-day.  All  these  desires 
for  change  which  beguile  you  will  continue  to  do  so  until 
your  deathbed;  it  is  the  experience  of  all  epochs.  All  that 
you  will  then  find  in  yourselves  that  is  new  will,  perhaps,  be 
a  little  greater  reckoning  than  that  which  you  would  have  to 

250 


LA    CHAIRE 

render  to-day;  and  from  what  you  would  be  if  it  came  to 
judging  you  at  this  moment,  you  can  almost  decide  what  will 
happen  to  you  at  your  death. ' ' 

FORENSIC  ELOQUENCE 

Previous  to  Louis  XIII,  the  eloquence  which  characterized 
the  bar  was  bombastic  and  in  bad  taste.  The  lawyer  confined 
himself  to  an  empty  display  of  knowledge  in  matters  of  no 
moment,  and  forsook  argument  for  long  citations  of  the  poets 
and  of  Latin  authors.  The  judges,  in  their  turn,  were  forced 
to  listen  to  these  prolix,  absurd  and  pretentious  dissertations 
which  Racine  so  aptly  ridicules  in  his  comedy,  Les  Plaideurs. 

Olivier  Patru  contributed  mostly  to  the  reform  of  forensic 
eloquence.  His  success  was  due  to  the  rectitude  of  his  judg- 
ment, the  purity  of  his  style,  and  the  restraint  of  his  citations. 
His  fault  lay  in  his  too  carefully  polished  phrases,  which 
lacked  inspiration  and  impulse.  After  thirty  years  of  law 
practice,  he  devoted  himself  to  literary  work,  and  divided  the 
honors  with  Vaugelas  as  master  of  the  French  language.  He 
was  received  into  the  Academy,  where  he  introduced  the  cus- 
tom of  the  Discours  de  remerciements,  a  custom  which  still 
prevails.  This  innovation  was  called  eloquence  academique. 

Paul  Pellisson  is  cited  as  a  forensic  orator  on  account  of 
his  Memoires  in  defense  of  Fouquet,  whose  friend  and 
protege  he  was,  and  to  whom  he  remained  faithful  until  the 
unfortunate  minister's  death.  Pellisson  braved  the  wrath  of 
Louis  XIV,  who  had  condemned  Fouquet,  and  even  partook 
of  his  captivity  for  four  years  in  the  Bastille,  where  he  com- 
posed his  Memoires.  He  was  refused  ink  and  paper,  so  he 
wrote  on  the  margin  of  his  books  with  a  mixture  of  toasted 
bread  dissolved  in  wine.  His  Memoires  are  a  masterpiece  of 
dialectics  and  of  style.  After  he  left  the  Bastille,  Louis  XIV, 
to  reward  him  for  so  much  fidelity,  accorded  him  a  pension 
and  some  lucrative  offices. 


CHAPTER   XVII 

LE   SIECLE  DE  LOUIS  XIV 

COBNEILLE,  Descartes,  Pascal,  filled  the  first  half  of 
that  greatest  of  French  literary  epochs — the  seventeenth  cen- 
tury. Notwithstanding  the  diversity  of  their  genius,  these 
three  men  are  related  to  one  another  by  certain  ties  of  the 
intellect.  The  characteristics  which  they  possess  in  common 
are  spiritual  nobility,  a  sublime  fervor,  a  simplicity  in  grand- 
eur. "  We  feel,"  says  Demogeot,  "  that  a  majestic  harmony 
is  established  among  these  most  illustrious  representatives  of 
French  thought.  But  though  they  had  a  bond  of  unity  in 
the  spirit  of  the  century,  they  lacked  a  center  of  government. 
Meanwhile,  there  was  growing  up,  amid  the  bloody  frivolities 
of  the  Fronde,  the  man  who  was  first  to  give  to  France  what 
she  most  desired — the  severe  unity  which  is  her  strength  and 
glory. 

' '  Royalty — the  material  personification  of  a  people — was  at 
that  time  the  only  form  under  which  the  nation  could  see  and 
understand  itself ;  and  Louis  XIV 1  was  the  most  glorious  ex- 
pression of  that  royalty.  His  person  seemed  made  for  the 
role:  his  figure,  his  carriage,  his  beauty,  and  his  stately  air, 
all  bespoke  the  sovereign ;  a  natural  majesty  accompanied  all 
his  actions,  and  commanded  respect.  His  deficiency  of  educa- 
tion was  offset  by  great  good  sense.  He  had  especially  the 
instinct  of  power — the  feeling  of  the  necessity  of  directing 
destinies,  together  with  that  faith  in  himself  so  essential  to 
the  exercise  of  command  over  others.  Besides,  he  took  posses- 
sion without  diffidence  of  all  the  living  forces  of  the  nation. 
He  entered  into  his  epoch  as  if  into  his  house.  His  maxim 
of  rule  was  quite  opposed  to  that  of  vulgar  tyranny;  he 

1  Son  of  Louis  XIII  and  Anne  of  Austria,  born  1638,  died  1715. 

252 


LE    SIECLE    DE    LOUIS    XIV 

wished  to  unify  in  order  that  he  might  reign.  He  concen- 
trated at  the  foot  of  his  throne  all  that  was  characterized 
by  influence  or  splendor:  nobility,  fortune,  science,  genius, 
bravery,  shone  about  his  crown  like  streams  of  light. ' ' 

It  was  fitting  that  he  should  be  called  the  Sun  King. 
Succeeding  to  the  ministerial  supremacy  perfected  by  Riche- 
lieu and  Mazarin,  Louis  XIV,  with  royal  power  and  authority 
founded  absolute  monarchy  in  France.  He  considered  him- 
self the  representative  of  God  on  earth — as  the  "  participant 
in  His  knowledge  as  well  as  of  His  authority. ' '  All  the  great 
men  as  well  as  the  people  saw  in  their  king  the  representative 
of  God  on  earth,  and  to  serve  the  king  meant  to  serve  God. 
He  was  truly  the  whole  state — ' '  1  'iStat,  c  'est  moi, ' '  and  every- 
one bent  before  him,  nobility,  Parliament,  Third  Estate,  even 
the  clergy.  Extreme  centralization,  passive  obedience,  the 
cult  of  the  royal  person  raised  to  the  status  of  dogma,  com- 
pleted the  absorption  of  the  nation,  the  incarnation  of  the 
people  in  a  single  man. 

Versailles  is  the  symbolic  work  of  Louis  XI Vs  reign.  It 
reveals  its  thought,  its  grandeur,  its  immense  and  cruel 
egotism.  France  paid  for  the  construction  of  Versailles  a  sum 
which  to-day  would  equal  four  hundred  millions  of  francs 
($80,000,000).  "  Saint-Germain,"  remarks  Saint-Simon, 
"  offered  to  Louis  XIV  a  complete  town  which  its  situation 
alone  was  sufficient  to  maintain  as  such.  He  left  it  for  Ver- 
sailles—the saddest  and  most  ungrateful  of  all  places— with- 
out scenery,  without  forests,  without  water  or  earth,  because 
everything  there  is  moving  sand  and  marsh.  He  decided  to 
tyrannize  over  Nature,  to  conquer  her  by  force  of  art  and 
wealth.  There  was  only  a  very  miserable  tavern  in  that  place ; 
he  built  there  an  entire  city." 

Jules  Hardouin  Mansard  *  constructed  the  place.  Charles 
Lebrun 2  was  occupied  for  eighteen  years  in  decorating  it. 

1  It  is  to  Francois  Mansard,  great-uncle  of  the  above,  that  the  inven- 
tion of  the  Mansard  roofs  is  attributed. 

2  Charles  Lebrun,  a  famous  painter  (1619-1690),  profited  by  his  singular 
favor  with  Louis  XIV  to  procure  the  foundation  of  a  French  school  at 
Rome  in  1666.     Young  Frenchmen  of  talent  are  sent  to  this  academy  at 
Rome,  to  study  painting,  sculpture,  and  music  at  the  expense  of  the  state. 
The  series  of  "Battles  of  Alexander"  in  the  Louvre  forms  the  principal 

253 


THE    HISTORY   OF    FRENCH   LITERATURE 

He  represented  the  exploits  of  the  Sun  King  in  an  allegorical 
manner  in  twenty-seven  paintings  on  the  ceiling  of  the  grand 
gallery,  and  mythology  was  the  magnificent  allegory  of  which 
Louis  XIV  was  the  reality.  Conquered  nations  were  personi- 
fied in  it.  Holland,  Germany,  Spain,  and  even  Rome  bowed 
there  to  the  king.  Lebrun  was  the  creator  of  the  Louis  XIV 
style. 

A  third  artist  completed  Versailles.  Le  Notre  created  a 
landscape  for  this  mansion.  "  From  the  windows  of  his  in- 
comparable glass  gallery,  Louis  saw  only  that  which  was 
his  own.  The  entire  horizon  was  his  work,  for  his  garden 
comprised  the  whole  of  it.  Those  groves,  those  straight 
avenues,  were  only  the  indefinite  extension  of  the  palace;  it 
was  a  vegetable  architecture  which  completed  and  reproduced 
the  architecture  in  stone.  The  trees  grew  only  regularly,  in 
squares;  water,  conducted  into  this  arid  place  at  great  ex- 
pense, spouted  in  regular  designs.  A  thousand  statues  of 
marble  and  bronze  were  the  mythological  pictures  of  this 
chateau  of  verdure,  and,  like  those  of  Lebrun,  presented  the 
apotheosis  of  the  king  and  his  amours.  Louis  was,  indeed, 
the  soul  of  his  court  as  of  his  palace.  It  was  he  who  inspired 
grace  and  spirit  in  women,  valor  and  chivalry  in  soldiers, 
emulation  and  almost  genius  in  artists.  The  courtiers  lived 
and  died  at  his  glance.  Far  from  fleeing  display  as  a  burden, 
he  was  at  his  ease  in  his  role  of  king;  he  played  it  with  the 
satisfaction  and  happiness  of  a  great  artist.  He  gathered 
about  him,  and  tastefully  distributed  this  brilliant  world 
which  belonged  to  him." 

Louis  XIV's  army  was  the  largest  and  best  organized  in 
Europe,  and  his  generals  the  greatest.  His  diplomacy  con- 
trolled all  courts.  He  built  monuments,  he  created  academies.1 

Laws  and  customs  were  codified;  industry  and  trade  were 
developed;  the  French  nation  excelled  all  others  in  the  arts 

work  of  Lebrun.  The  Louvre  had  its  beginning  in  a  tower  erected  for 
the  louvetiers  (masters  of  the  wolf-hounds)  in  what  was  then  a  forest 
abounding  in  wolves  (loups~).  In  our  time  the  Louvre  has  become  the 
richest  artistic  museum  in  the  world.  Its  principal  architects  were  Pierre 
Lescot,  Lemmercier,  Du  Cerceau,  Claude  Perrault,  and  Visconti. 

1  Of  inscriptions  and  medals,  1663;  of  sciences,  1666;  of  music,  1669;  of 
architecture,  1671;  and  others. 

254 


LE    SIECLE   DE   LOUIS   XIV 

and  sciences ;  French  writers  proclaimed  the  king  as  the  ideal 
prince,  and  arrayed  his  court  with  the  splendors  of  the  em- 
perors of  Rome  and  Byzantium.  Versailles  with  its  magnifi- 
cence became  the  envy  of  all  monarchs.  We  know  that 
under  Louis  XIV  letters  and  arts  were  carried  to  a  high 
degree  of  perfection  by  a  brilliant  constellation  of  prose 
writers,  poets,  and  painters :  Corneille,  Racine,  Moliere,  in 
the  drama;  La  Fontaine  and  Boileau  in  poetry;  Bossuet, 
Fenelon,  Flechier,  in  oratory;  La  Bruyere  and  La  Roche- 
foucauld in  moral  criticism;  Pascal  in  philosophy;  Saint- 
Simon  and  de  Retz  in  history;  Poussin,  Le  Lorrain,  Lebrun, 
Perrault,  Mansard,  Girardon,  Puget,  in  art — these  were  the 
principal  representatives  of  the  century  of  Louis  XIV.  More- 
over, letters  not  only  reflected  the  regularity  of  the  Great 
Reign,  but  they  received  from  it  elegance  and  grace.  The 
society  of  women ;  the  intrigues  of  the  heart,  the  science  of 
the  passions;  the  sprightly  conversations,  with  no  real  basis, 
in  which  verbal  embroidery  was  everything,  in  which  the 
need  of  saying  everything,  the  obligation  of  concealing  certain 
things,  was  imperative. 

In  this  epoch  written  conversation  became  the  literary 
type.  The  preceding  age  had  expressed  itself  especially  in 
Memoires.  The  seventeenth  century  also  had  its  Memoire 
writers :  Mademoiselle  de  Montpensier,  Madame  de  Motteville, 
Madame  de  La  Fayette,  Madame  de  Caylus;  La  Rochefou- 
cauld, Louis  XIV  himself,  and  Bussy-Rabutin,  whose  scan- 
dalous chronicle  Histoire  amoureuse  des  Gaules,  a  cynical 
description  of  the  adventures  of  the  ladies  of  the  court, 
brought  him  into  disfavor  with  the  court,  and  caused  his  im- 
prisonment in  the  Bastille ;  Paul  de  Gondi,  Cardinal  de  Retz, 
eclipsed  all  his  rivals  by  the  fire  of  his  narrations  and  the 
depth  of  his  portraits. 

The  French  language  reached  its  perfection  in  this  epoch. 
Voltaire  in  his  Siecle  de  Louis  XIV  says:  "  The  language 
under  Louis  XIV  was  carried  to  the  highest  state  of  perfec- 
tion in  all  genres."  A  talent  for  conversation — brilliant  and 
flexible  as  well  as  elegant — was  developed  under  the  reign  of 
Louis  XIV.  This  art,  practiced  by  society,  produced  a  rich 
literary  genre — the  epistolary.  No  literature  has  anything  of 
this  type  to  compare  with  the  names  of  Ninon  de  L'Enclos, 

255 


THE    HISTORY   OF    FRENCH    LITERATURE 

Mesdames  de  Montespan,  de  Coulanges,  de  la  Sabliere,  de 
Maintenon.  But  the  most  celebrated  name  of  all  is  that  of 
Marie  de  Rabutin-Chantal,  Marquise  de  Sevigne  (1626-1696), 
whose  correspondence  has  a  place  among  the  masterpieces  of 
the  century.  She  was  the  joy  and  sunbeam  of  this  distin- 
guished and  polished  society.  Sainte-Beuve  has  described 
Madame  de  Sevigne  as  a  laughing  blonde,  very  sprightly  and 
roguish.  The  brightness  of  her  mind  passed  into  and  shone 
in  her  changing  eyes,  and,  as  she  says  herself,  in  her  "  parti- 
colored iris."  She  received  a  classic  education  and  shone  at 
the  court  of  Louis  XIII  by  her  brilliance  of  mind  rather  than 
her  beauty.  Separated  from  her  husband,  she  devoted  herself 
to  her  children,  and  when  the  Marquis  de  Sevigne  was  killed  in 
a  duel,  she  never  married  again,  although  only  twenty-six  years 
old.  Madame  de  Sevigne  went  into  the  world  beloved,  sought 
after,  courted,  sowing  unfortunate  passions  round  about  her, 
without  in  the  least  meaning  it.  Her  cousin,  Bussy-Rabutin ; 
her  preceptor,  Menage;  the  Prince  of  Conti,  brother  of  the 
great  Conde;  Fouquet  and  Turenne — all  vainly  sighed  for 
her.  A  widow  at  twenty-six,  with  a  great  fortune  and  remark- 
able beauty,  she  devoted  herself  entirely  to  her  two  children, 
especially  her  daughter,  the  handsome  and  cold  Madame  de 
Grignan,  for  whom  she  had  up  to  the  end  of  her  life  an  ex- 
treme passion.  Arnauld,  of  the  Port-Royal,  scolded  her  very 
severely,  saying  that  she  was  a  pretty  pagan,  and  that  she  was 
making  of  her  daughter  the  idol  of  her  heart. 

It  was  because  of  a  mother's  love,  in  order  to  entertain 
her  daughter — "  majestically  tired  in  the  midst  of  the  fetes 
and  chicaneries  of  provincial  society  ' ' — that  she  undertook  to 
write  a  series  of  letters  for  twenty-five  of  the  most  curious 
years  of  the  reign  of  Louis  XIV.  The  diversity  of  her  studies 
enabled  her  to  become  an  excellent  writer,  but  the  qualities  of 
her  literary  style  are  such  as  one  does  not  acquire :  imagina- 
tion, sensibility  and  wit,  added  to  rapidity  of  touch;  un- 
labored and  correct  phrasing,  and  a  language  which  does  not 
fear  the  right  word,  and  ignores  prudery  and  timidity.  Hers 
was  the  model  of  the  epistolary  genre.  Her  correspondence, 
like  an  "  enchanted  mirror,  makes  us  know  the  court  and 
its  intrigues,  the  king  and  his  mistresses,  the  church,  the 
theater,  literature,  war,  the  entertainments,  the  banquets,  and 

256 


LE    SIECLE   DE    LOUIS   XIV 

the  toilets  of  the  time."  All  is  animated  and  colored  while 
passing  through  the  mind  and  the  pen  of  this  charming  woman. 
The  abandon  and  facility  of  the  style  contribute  to  the  illu- 
sion. It  is  a  living,  spirited  conversation,  piquant,  variegated, 
in  which  is  found  all  the  grace,  all  the  unexpected  diction, 
all  the  heartiness  and  warmth  of  a  person  of  great  intellect, 
soul,  instruction,  and  reason.1 

Madame  de  Sevigne 's  letters  to  Charles  de  Sevigne,  to  Abbe 
de  Coulanges,2  to  Madame  de  La  Fayette  show  an  excellent 
literary  style,  but  the  letters  addressed  to  her  daughter  are  most 
exquisite  of  all.  She  chats  with  her  daughter  and  "  lets  her 
pen  trot  with  loose  bridle."  In  these  letters  are  found  the 
French  style  par  excellence — a  finely  fashioned  mind,  an 
easily  excited  imagination,  a  love  for  the  natural — expressed 
in  a  firm  and  facile  manner  with  great  simplicity,  and  a  per- 
fection of  form  which  makes  Madame  de  Sevigne  the  master 
in  this  particular  branch  of  literature. 

MADAME  DE  LA  FAYETTE* 

The  period  from  1630  until  1660  was  one  of  the  great 
epochs  of  the  French  novel,  and  literature  was  almost  entirely 
limited  to  fiction.  The  novels  of  Mademoiselle  de  Scudery 
marked  a  transition  from  the  novel  of  La  Calprenede  (the 
prince  of  romantic  fiction)  to  the  novel  of  Madame  de  La 
Fayette.  These  novels  of  Mademoiselle  de  Scudery  offered 
a  psychological  as  well  as  historic  interest.  "  The  novels  of 
Madame  de  La  Fayette,"  says  Geruzez,  "  were  more  than  a 
novelty;  they  were  almost  a  revolution."  But  it  was  the 
revolution  of  good  sense,  good  taste,  and  simplicity  which 
were  to  replace  the  extravagance,  the  bombast,  and  the  im- 
possible inventions  of  the  old-style  novel.  The  novels  of 
Madame  de  La  Fayette  have  remained  the  very  type  of  moral 
analysis.  Her  first  attempt  was  Zayde,  a  story  of  adven- 

1  The  best  edition  of  Madame  de  SeVigne"'s  letters  was  prepared  by  Paul 
Mesnard  for  the  series  of  Les  Grands  Ecrivains  de  la  France. 

2  Madame  de  SeVign^'s  uncle,  the  Abbe  de  Coulanges,  directed  the  edu- 
cation of  his  niece  who,  orphaned  when  a  child,  proved  the  joy  and  happi- 
ness of  "  le  Bien  Bon, "  as  she  called  the  Abb4. 

3  Marie  Madeleine  Pioche  de   la   Vergne,   Comtesse  de  La  Fayette 
(1634-1693). 

18  257 


THE    HISTORY   OF    FRENCH   LITERATURE 

ture  and  sentimentalism — a  transition  between  the  heroic 
romance  of  Mademoiselle  de  Scudery  and  the  psychologi- 
cal novel.  The  scene  is  laid  in  Spain;  the  hero  and  heroine, 
at  their  first  meeting,  cannot  understand  each  other  except  by 
gestures,  since  one  is  Arabian  and  the  other  Spanish.  When 
they  meet  again,  the  Arabian  girl  speaks  Spanish  and  the 
Spaniard,  Arabian;  they  blush  and  understand. 

La  Princesse  de  Cleves  is  far  superior  to  Zayde.  It  is  a 
novel  in  which  passion  is  analyzed  with  much  delicacy  and 
decorum  —  a  modern  novel.  The  chief  scene  is  that  in  which 
M.  de  Cleves,  astonished  at  seeing  his  wife  determined  to  re- 
main in  the  country,  questions  her,  and  learns  that  she  is 
fleeing  from  the  Due  de  Nemours,  who  loves  her,  and  whose 
love  she  returns.  M.  de  Cleves  dies,  some  time  after  this, 
from  chagrin  and  jealousy.  This  leaves  his  widow  free  to 
marry  the  duke,  who  still  loves  her;  but  she  reproaches  her- 
self for  the  sentiments  she  had  entertained  toward  him  during 
the  lifetime  of  her  husband,  and  retires  to  a  convent.  The 
period  of  this  story  is  nominally  the  reign  of  Henry  II;  but 
we  feel  ourselves  fully  in  the  seventeenth  century,  at  the  court 
of  Louis  XIV;  the  Duchesse  de  Valentinois  is  Madame  de 
Montespan ;  Marie  Stuart  is  but  another  name  for  the  Duchesse 
d 'Orleans;  in  the  Prince  of  Cleves,  we  detect  M.  de  La  Fay- 
ette ;  the  Due  de  Nemours  is  no  other  than  La  Rochefoucauld. 
La  Rochefoucauld,  who  was  a  fast  friend  of  Madame  de  La 
Fayette,  had  a  great  influence  on  her  literary  development ;  her 
work  became  more  thoughtful  and  psychologically  deeper. 
"  He  gave  me  wit,  but  I  have  reformed  his  heart,"  she  said. 
Madame  de  Sevigne  wrote :  ' '  Nothing  could  be  compared  to 
the  confidence  and  charm  of  their  friendship. ' ' 

Madame  de  La  Fayette  has  left  memoirs  of  this  court ;  also 
a  Vie  d'Henriette  d'Angleterre,  in  which  the  author  enters 
into  very  intimate  details,  so  that  one  might  fancy  himself 
to  be  reading  a  real  novel.  It  is  all  written  in  a  distinguished 
style,  and  with  a  precision  which  is  not  in  the  least  affected. 

LA  ROCHEFOUCAULD 

Francois,  Due  de  La  Rochefoucauld,  and  Prince  de  Mar- 
sillac,  born  at  Paris  in  1613,  died  1680,  was  the  great  initiator 

258 


LE    SIECLE    DE   LOUIS   XIV 

in  moral  studies.  He  took  part  in  the  Fronde,  but  it  was  less 
from  political  conviction  than  to  please  the  Duchesse  de 
Longueville.  He  left  curious  Memoires  of  this  epoch,  written 
in  a  firm  and  precise  style,  but  much  less  interesting  than  those 
of  de  Eetz.  The  book  which  has  made  the  reputation  of 
La  Rochefoucauld,  is  his  little  collection  of  Maximes.1  He 
frequented  the  salon  of  Madame  de  Sable,  and  there  he  got 
his  inspiration  for  them.  Every  salon  of  the  seventeenth 
century  favored  some  special  development  of  a  literary  genre : 
Mademoiselle  de  Scudery's  was  noted  for  its  madrigals  and 
verses,  the  Princesse  de  Montpensier 's  for  literary  portraits, 
and  Madame  de  Sable 's  for  maxims.  The  maxims  of  La  Roche- 
foucauld are  masterpieces  of  style;  no  one  before  him  had 
attained  to  his  precision  and  clearness,  to  his  skill  in  putting 
an  edge  on  thought. 

The  philosophic  system  of  La  Rochefoucauld  deserves  less 
eulogy ;  it  is  bitter  and  pessimistic.  For  him  all  human  actions 
have  no  other  motive  than  self-love,  and  his  whole  book  is, 
in  the  last  analysis,  only  this  thought  recurring  in  a  hundred 
different  ways.  He  reasons  thus:  virtue  has  its  recompense, 
but  in  being  virtuous  it  is  only  our  desire  to  gain  the  recom- 
pense. He  does  not  admit  that  a  good  action  may  be  per- 
formed naturally  and  disinterestedly.  He  judged  the  human 
race  by  the  fault  finders  with  whom  he  had  lived ;  in  his  last 
years  he  became  completely  saddened  and  misanthropic.  The 
following  selections  from  his  Maximes  are  characteristic: 

We  should  gain  more  by  letting  ourselves  be  seen  as  we  are  than  as 
we  are  not. 

Narrow-mindedness  makes  obstinacy;  we  do  not  easily  believe  in 
that  which  is  beyond  our  range  of  vision. 

How  can  we  expect  that  another  will  keep  our  secret  if  we  have  not 
been  able  to  keep  it  ourselves? 

In  order  to  know  things  well,  we  must  know  them  in  detail;  and, 
since  this  is  almost  infinite,  our  knowledge  is  always  superficial  and 
imperfect. 

As  it  is  the  characteristic  of  great  minds  to  make  many  things 
understood  with  few  words,  so — on  the  contrary — little  minds  have 
the  gift  of  talking  a  great  deal  and  saying  nothing. 

1  The  full  title  is  Reflexions  et  Sentences,  ou  Maximes  Morales. 
259 


THE    HISTORY   OF    FRENCH   LITERATURE 

The  desire  to  appear  skillful  often  prevents  our  becoming  so. 

The  true  way  to  be  deceived  is  to  believe  oneself  shrewder  than 
others. 

The  mind  is  always  the  dupe  of  the  heart. 

Everyone  complains  of  his  memory,  and  no  one  complains  of  his 
judgment. 

Self-love  is  the  greatest  of  all  flatterers. 

It  needs  greater  virtues  to  sustain  good  fortune  than  bad. 

We  are  never  so  ridiculous  by  the  qualities  which  we  have  as  by 
those  which  we  pretend  to  have. 

Passions  are  the  only  orators  which  always  persuade.  They  are 
like  a  kind  of  nature  whose  rules  are  infallible ;  and  the  simplest  man 
who  has  passion  is  more  persuasive  than  the  most  eloquent  who  has 
none. 

Epigrams,  like  proverbs,  are  the  condensation  of  thought. 
In  the  case  of  proverbs,  the  condensation  is  often  accomplished 
through  the  process  of  ages  and  the  friction  of  many  minds. 
The  epigram,  when  it  is  the  work  of  one  man,  is  recast  by  him 
again  and  again,  until  he  can  compress  it  no  more.  In  a  first 
edition  of  the  Maximes,  we  read : ' '  There  is  no  pleasure  which 
one  gives  so  willingly  to  a  friend  as  that  of  offering  our  ad- 
vice. "  In  a  later  collection  this  becomes :  ' '  We  give  nothing 
so  liberally  as  our  advice." 


LE  CAEDINAL  DE  RETZ 

Paul  de  Gondi,  Cardinal  of  Retz,  born  at  Montmirail  in 
1614,  died  1679,  was  destined  from  his  childhood  to  the  eccle- 
siastical career,  for  which  he  was  little  suited.  Dr.  Retz  had 
begun  by  telling,  in  a  little  work  full  of  energy,  the  same  Con- 
juration de  Fiesque  from  which  Schiller  took  one  of  his 
dramas.  Richelieu,  to  whom  they  brought  this  composition  of 
an  eighteen-year-old  writer,  exclaimed :  ' '  There  is  a  dangerous 
mind!  "  In  1643,  after  being  appointed  coadjutor  of  the 
Archbishop  of  Paris  (Henri  de  Gondi,  his  uncle),  he  put  him- 
self at  the  front  in  the  Fronde.  He  became  a  Frondeur  to 
gratify  Madame  de  Longueville ;  he  himself  has  explained  it : 
' '  To  please  her  beautiful  eyes,  I  made  war  on  kings,  I  would 
have  warred  against  gods."  De  Retz  was  the  historian  of  the 
Fronde.  After  the  defeat  of  the  Frondeurs  at  the  battle  of 

260 


LE    SIECLE   DE    LOUIS   XIV 

the  Faubourg  Saint- Antoine,  he  made  his  peace  with  the  court 
and  received  the  cardinal's  hat.  Mistress  of  all  power,  Anne 
of  Austria  had  him  arrested;  but  he  succeeded  in  escaping 
from  his  prison  and  left  the  kingdom.  When  he  returned  to 
France  he  gave  up  polities  and  finished  his  life  in  retirement, 
writing  his  Memoires — a  model  of  that  kind  of  informal 
history  which  flourished  in  the  seventeenth  century. 


LA  BRUTERE 

Jean  de  La  Bruyere,  born  at  Paris  in  1645,  died  1696,  was 
for  some  time  treasurer  in  the  district  of  Caen.  On  the  recom- 
mendation of  Bossuet,  the  great  Conde  engaged  him  to  teach 
history  to  his  grandson,  the  Duke  of  Bourbon.  La  Bruyere 
was,  above  all,  a  man  of  honor ;  this  is  the  opinion  of  Boileau, 
Saint-Simon,  and  all  of  his  contemporaries.  Virtue  was  for 
him  a  kind  of  beauty.  He  lived  in  a  sort  of  retirement;  and 
in  so  far  as  he  was  a  man  of  the  world,  he  looked  at  the  scene 
without  becoming  an  actor. 

"  He  was,"  says  Saint-Simon,  "  very  disinterested.  He 
was  content  all  his  life  with  a  pension  of  a  thousand  crowns, 
which  the  duke  gave  him,"  as  preceptor  for  his  grandson 
Louis  de  Bourbon.  His  patron,  the  duke,  was  "  brutal, 
vicious,  and  of  an  unbearably  ferocious  character."  The 
duchess  was  a  "  scornful,  mocking,  sarcastic  person,  incapable 
of  friendship,  and  very  capable  of  hatred ;  wicked,  proud,  im- 
placable, with  a  fertile  mind  for  black  artifices,  and  the  most 
cruel  songs,  which  she  inflicted  on  people  whom  she  pretended 
to  love,  who  lived  with  her."  La  Bruyere  suffered  much 
from  these  eccentricities,  and  from  the  haughty  disdain  and 
humiliating  condescension  to  which  he  was  subjected  by 
friends  of  the  house. 

Taine  tells  us  that  "  the  great  lords  of  the  time  considered 
men  of  letters  and  artists  as  a  kind  of  amusing  domestics. 
The  Pope  requested  the  king  "  to  lend  him  Mansard,"  as 
you  would  request  your  friend  to  lend  you  his  horse  or  his 
dog.  We  find  in  La  Bruyere's  book  no  less  than  twenty 
"  thoughts  "  on  the  scorn  attached  to  the  condition  of  a  sub- 
ordinate and  man  of  letters.  The  points  which  he  makes  are 
penetrating  and  profound;  yet  we  can  always  read  between 

261 


THE    HISTORY   OF    FRENCH   LITERATURE 

the  lines  an  animus  underlying  the  moral  eloquence  of  his 
work.  We  can  often  recognize  the  restrained  and  bitter 
smile  of  a  superior  soul  which  sees  that  it  is  scorned,  and 
returns  a  hundredfold,  but  in  silence,  the  contempt  it  has 
endured.  Unfortunately,  this  too  frequent  and  too  pervasive 
sentiment  soon  poisons  all  the  others.  We  end  by  becoming  in- 
capable of  gayety,  or  even  of  calmness;  we  no  longer  see  in 
the  vices  of  man  the  interior  necessity  which  renders  them 
endurable,  nor  in  the  follies  of  the  world  the  agreeable  non- 
sense which  makes  them  amusing.  We  lose  our  serene  philos- 
ophy and  sense  of  humor;  we  become  satirical  and  misan- 
thropic. The  feeling  of  sadness  increases,  everything  becomes 
tense  and  strained ;  the  author  speaks  only  in  insulting  tirades, 
or  rasping,  reproachful  phrases.  This  is,  indeed,  the  habitual 
tone  of  La  Bruyere;  his  style,  however  perfect  it  is,  fatigues 
the  reader;  the  extreme  and  painful  emotions  which  fill  the 
work  are  communicated  to  him;  we  wish  harm  when  we  have 
read  his  books,  and  we  wish  it  to  the  whole  race.  He  leaves, 
with  more  force  and  less  monotony,  the  same  impression  left 
by  Rousseau;  both  were  profoundly  and  incessantly  wounded 
by  the  disproportion  of  their  genius  and  their  fortune,  and 
their  secret  chagrin  has  embittered  and  colored  all  their 
work."  .  .  . 

La  Bruyere  was  at  heart  gracious  and  full  of  tender- 
ness— traits  which  come  to  the  surface  at  times,  but  are 
almost  always  concealed  by  his  biting  satire.  The  chapter 
on  the  heart,  and  that  on  women,  are  sown  with  noble  and 
exquisite  thought,  contrasting  strongly  with  the  bitter  irony 
of  the  rest,  and  affording  a  glimpse  of  what  he  might  have 
been  if  circumstances  had  not  turned  him  aside  toward  more 
violent  and  sadder  expressions  of  literature.  ...  A  final  trait, 
common  to  La  Bruyere  and  Rousseau,  marks  his  character; 
it  is  the  incurable  melancholy,  the  sadness  in  the  very  depths 
of  his  soul,  the  loss  of  all  illusion,  the  disgust  with  men,  the 
cruel  feeling  of  human  misery.  Witness  words  like  these: 
' '  We  must  laugh  before  being  happy,  for  fear  of  dying  before 
having  laughed.  Life  is  short,  tiresome,  it  is  wholly  spent  in 
hoping,  and  we  put  rest  into  the  future  as  well  as  joy,  at  the 
age  when  often  our  best  possessions — health  and  youth — have 
already  disappeared.  The  time  comes  which  overtakes  even 

262 


LE    SIECLE    DE    LOUIS    XIV 

our  desires ;  we  are  in  the  midst  of  them  when  the  fever  seizes 
us  and  we  perish:  if  we  had  recovered,  it  would  only  be  to 
hope  still  longer."  His  book  attempts  to  compute  in  how 
many  ways  man  can  be  unendurable. 

Jean  Formey  writes:  "  He  (La  Bruye're)  came  almost 
daily  to  sit  with  a  bookseller  named  Michallet,  in  whose  com- 
pany he  perused  new  books  and  amused  himself  with  a  very 
pretty  little  girl,  daughter  of  the  bookseller,  who  had  struck 
up  a  friendship  with  him.  One  day,  he  drew  a  manuscript 
from  his  pocket  and  said  to  Michallet :  '  Will  you  print  this  ? 
I  don't  know  whether  you  will  find  it  worth  while;  but  in 
case  of  success,  the  profit  will  be  for  my  little  friend.'  The 
bookseller  undertook  the  edition  (Les  Caracteres).  Scarcely 
had  he  put  it  on  sale  than  it  was  exhausted,  and  he  was 
obliged  to  reprint  the  book  three  or  four  times ;  it  brought  him 
two  or  three  hundred  thousand  francs.  This  was  the  unfore- 
seen dower  of  his  daughter,  who  made  in  consequence  a  most 
advantageous  marriage. ' ' 

La  Bruyere's  only  work,  Les  Caracteres,  is  composed  of 
sixteen  chapters,  in  which  he  passes  in  review  men  of  letters, 
prelates,  women,  courtiers,  and  bourgeois;  in  which  he  dis- 
cusses fashion,  judgements,  the  government  of  states ;  or  takes 
to  task  the  incredulous  ones  who  were  at  that  time  called  the 
* '  esprits  forts. ' '  The  full  title  of  his  work  is  Les  caracteres  de 
Theophraste *  traduit  du  grec  avec  les  caracteres  ou  les  mo&urs 
de  ce  siecle.  Here  is  an  extract  from  Chapter  VI,  "  On  the 
Good  Things  of  Fortune;  the  Rich  and  the  Poor  Man  ": 

"  Giton  has  a  fresh  complexion,  full  face  and  hanging 
cheeks,  a  steady  and  assured  glance,  broad  shoulders,  thick 
chest,  and  a  firm  and  deliberate  bearing :  he  speaks  with  con- 
fidence, makes  the  man  who  is  talking  to  him  repeat,  and 
enjoys  only  indifferently  what  his  companion  says  to  him. 
He  unfolds  a  large  handkerchief,  and  blows  his  nose  with  a 
great  noise;  he  spits  to  a  great  distance,  and  sneezes  very 

1  Ethici  Charakteres  of  Theophrastus,  Greek  philosopher,  370-288  B.C. 
La  Bruyere's  translation  is  a  supplement  to  his  own  character  sketches,  of 
which  there  are  1,119.  The  Characters  of  Theophrastus  were  the  original 
models  of  Hall's  Characteristics  of  Virtues  and  Vices;  of  Earle's  Microcos- 
mographie ;  of  Overbury's  Characters  or  Witty  Descriptions  of  the  Properties 
of  Sundry  Persons. 

263 


THE    HISTORY   OF    FRENCH   LITERATURE 

loudly ;  he  sleeps  during  the  day,  he  sleeps  at  night,  and  pro- 
foundly ;  he  snores  in  company.  At  table,  and  while  walking, 
he  occupies  more  space  than  any  other  person.  He  keeps  in 
the  middle  when  walking  with  his  equals ;  he  stops  and  they 
stop,  he  continues  to  walk  and  they  walk;  they  all  regulate 
themselves  by  him.  He  interrupts,  he  corrects  those  who  are 
speaking;  he  is  not  interrupted,  they  listen  to  him  as  long 
as  he  wishes  to  speak,  agree  with  him  in  everything,  and  be- 
lieve the  news  he  relates.  If  he  sits  down,  you  see  him  en- 
sconce himself  in  an  armchair,  cross  his  legs  one  over  the  other, 
knit  his  brow,  lower  his  hat  over  his  eyes,  in  order  not  to 
see  anyone;  or  he  raises  it  after  a  while  and  uncovers  his 
forehead  by  way  of  pride  and  audacity.  He  is  lively,  a  great 
laugher,  impatient,  presumptuous,  choleric,  free  thinker  and 
politic,  mysterious  in  regard  to  the  affairs  of  the  time;  he 
thinks  he  has  talent  and  brains.  He  is  rich. 

"  Phedon  is  hollow-eyed,  of  a  flushed  complexion,  his 
body  dried  up,  his  face  lean.  He  sleeps  little  and  very  lightly. 
He  is  absent-minded,  a  dreamer,  and  he  has  the  air  of  an  idiot 
in  spite  of  his  intellect;  he  forgets  to  say  what  he  knows,  or 
to  speak  of  events  which  are  known  to  him,  and  if  he  does 
so  sometimes,  he  makes  a  bungle  of  it.  He  thinks  he  is 
boring  those  to  whom  he  speaks,  so  he  talks  briefly,  but  with- 
out animation;  no  one  listens  to  him,  he  does  not  make  his 
hearers  laugh.  He  applauds  and  smiles  at  what  others  say 
to  him,  he  is  of  their  opinion;  he  runs,  he  flies  to  do  them 
little  services,  he  is  complaisant,  a  flatterer,  officious.  He  is 
mysterious  in  his  affairs,  does  not  always  speak  the  truth;  he 
is  superstitious,  scrupulous,  timid.  He  walks  diffidently  and 
lightly,  apparently  afraid  to  tread  the  ground,  with  eyes 
lowered,  and  dares  not  raise  them  on  those  who  pass.  He  is 
never  among  those  who  form  a  circle  for  discussion ;  he  stands 
behind  the  one  who  speaks,  furtively  notices  what  is  said, 
and  retires  if  he  is  looked  at.  He  occupies  no  space,  and 
takes  up  no  room.  He  goes  along  with  bent  shoulders,  his 
hat  lowered  over  his  eyes  so  that  he  may  not  be  seen;  he 
wraps  and  conceals  himself  in  his  coat ;  there  are  no  streets  or 
galleries  so  obstructed  and  filled  with  people  through  which 
he  does  not  find  the  means  of  making  his  way  without  effort, 
and  gliding  through  without  being  perceived.  If  he  is  asked 

264 


LE    SIECLE   DE   LOUIS   XIV 

to  sit  down,  he  barely  places  himself  on  the  edge  of  the  chair. 
He  speaks  low  in  conversation  and  articulates  badly;  out- 
spoken, nevertheless,  on  public  affairs;  discontented  with  the 
epoch;  in  a  mediocre  way,  prejudiced  against  the  ministers 
and  the  ministry.  He  never  opens  his  mouth  except  to 
answer ;  he  coughs,  he  blows  his  nose  behind  his  hat,  he  almost 
spits  upon  himself,  and  he  waits  until  he  is  alone  to  sneeze — 
or,  if  this  happens  in  spite  of  him,  it  is  without  the  knowl- 
edge of  the  company,  and  costs  no  one  either  a  greeting  or  a 
compliment.1  He  is  poor." 


SAINT-SIMON 

Louis  de  Rouvray,  son  of  Claude  de  Saint-Simon,  favorite 
of  Louis  XIII,  was  born  in  1675,  at  Versailles.  The  king 
was  his  sponsor,  and  he  became  a  page  at  court,  and  then  a 
soldier.  Later,  he  handed  in  his  resignation,  and  remained 
at  the  court  without  employment.  He  was  a  malcontent 
from  his  birth  and  by  family  tradition.  He  had  a  great  re- 
spect for  Louis  XIII,  ' '  the  king  of  the  nobles, ' '  but  deplored 
the  ' '  long  regne  de  vile  bourgeoisie  ' '  of  Louis  XIV.  At  the 
death  of  Louis  XIV,  he  favored  the  party  of  the  Due  d 'Or- 
leans, with  whom  the  Due  du  Maine  disputed  the  regency; 
and  he  was  intrusted  by  the  regent  with  the  mission  of  negoti- 
ating with  Spain  the  marriage  of  Louis  XV  with  the  Infanta. 
Later  he  retired  to  his  estates,  where  he  occupied  himself  with 
the  edition  of  his  Memoir es,  which  are  very  voluminous  (123 
volumes) .  He  exercised  no  influence  whatsoever  on  the  litera- 
ture of  his  time,  as  he  worked  with  the  greatest  secrecy. 
His  Memoires  which,  according  to  his  last  will,  were  not  to 
appear  until  fifty  years  after  his  death  (1725),  were  con- 
fiscated by  the  French  Government,  and  taken  to  the  archives 
of  the  Ministere  des  affaires  etrangeres.  They  were  not  per- 
mitted to  be  made  public  until  1830.  In  these  Memoires  du 
Due  de  Saint-Simon  sur  le  regne  de  Louis  XIV  et  la  Regencc, 
he  depicts  with  admirable  penetration  the  thousand  incidents 
of  the  court,  and  the  physiognomy  of  the  courtiers. 

Saint-Simon  had  begun  to  gather  the  matter  for  this  work 

1  "Dieu  vous  be"nisse!"  after  a  sneeze. 
265 


THE    HISTORY   OF    FRENCH   LITERATURE 

at  the  age  of  nineteen  years.  Every  evening  he  jotted  down, 
without  anyone  observing  him,  all  that  he  had  seen  and  heard 
during  the  day;  and  it  is  from  these  notes,  and  not  from 
more  or  less  vague  recollection,  that  he  composed  his  book. 
It  has  been  said  of  him,  that  he  was  "  curious  like  Froissart, 
penetrating  like  La  Bruyere,  and  passionate  like  Alceste  in 
Moliere."  During  all  the  time  of  his  sojourn  at  the  court, 
Saint-Simon  imposed  on  himself  the  role  of  spy  on  all  that 
world  which  paraded  around  him  —  studying  faces,  noting 
gestures,  hearing  every  word,  and  seeking  to  read  the  very 
bottom  of  the  soul.  His  Memoires  were  written  in  a  strange, 
incorrect  style.  He  never  revised  his  sentences  and  never 
erased  a  word.  "  He  writes  without  order  (a  la  diable)  for 
posterity,"  said  Chateaubriand.  His  portraits  also  seem 
thrown  together,  composed  at  hazard,  but  with  great  vigor. 
Saint-Simon  is  the  greatest  French  word-painter  of  historical 
portraits. 

The  transition  from  the  seventeenth  to  the  eighteenth 
centuries  shows  a  decline  in  classicism.  Fenelon,  in  his  Lettre 
a  I'Academie,  achieved  a  victory  for  the  ancients  in  the 
"  Quarrel  of  the  Ancients  and  Moderns,"  but  did  not  much 
retard  the  impulse  toward  modernism.  Racine  had  created 
a  school;  but  among  the  great  number  of  tragic  writers  who 
sought  to  walk  in  his  steps,  only  a  few,  such  as  de  Lafosse 
and  Crebillon  had  some  dramatic  talent  united  with  a  certain 
originality.  Classic  tragedy  fell  altogether  into  decadence 
with  the  dramatic  poets,  Jean  Galbert  de  Campistron,  La- 
grange-Chancel,  Longepierre,  and  tended  toward  the  melo- 
dramatic. Brunetiere  tells  us  that  of  the  many  pieces  of 
this  period,  there  are  not  six  which  are  remembered,  not  even 
one,  which  one  dares  represent,  and  there  is  not  an  author 
to  whom  the  history  of  literature  accords  more  than  a  pass- 
ing mention. 

Antoine  de  Lafosse 's  (about  1653-1708)  tragedy  Manlius 
Capitolinus,  an  adaptation  of  Thomas  Otway's  "  Venice  Pre- 
served, ' '  had  a  prodigious  success  in  its  time,  and  was  still  con- 
sidered a  masterpiece  by  Villemain.  It  is  said,  however,  that 
the  play  owed  much  of  its  popularity  to  the  masterful  inter- 
pretation of  the  great  actor  Talma.  An  interesting  document 
preserved  in  the  archives  of  the  Theatre-Francois  reads: 

266 


LE    SIECLE   DE   LOUIS   XIV 

"  Pass  the  citizen  Bonaparte  to  this  evening's  performance 
of  Manlius.  (Signed)  Talma."  Of  this  document,  Frederic 
Febvre,  in  Le  Gaulois,  relates  a  story  told  him  by  Talma's  own 
son.  It  seems  that  Emperor  Napoleon  when  he  was  a  lieuten- 
ant of  artillery  was  in  the  habit  of  haunting  the  Palais-Royal 
Galleries  in  the  hope  that  he  might  see  the  tragedian,  and  that 
Talma,  espying  him,  would  whisper  to  his  companion:  "  The 
other  way,  if  you  don't  mind.  I  see  Bonaparte  coming,  and 
I'm  afraid  he'll  ask  me  for  seats."  Later,  Napoleon,  who 
ardently  admired  Talma,  had  him  appear  in  a  performance 
in  Erfurt  before  an  ' '  audience  of  kings. ' ' 

Prosper  Jolyot  de  Crebillon  (1674^1762)  tried  to  intro- 
duce in  his  tragedies  the  element  of  terror  which  had  been 
the  fortune  of  ^Eschylus.  "  Corneille,"  he  said,  "  took 
heaven,  Racine  the  earth;  there  is  nothing  left  for  me  but 
hell,  and  I  have  thrown  myself  headlong  into  it. ' '  His  plays 
abound  in  terrible  situations  and  fearful  crimes.  Thus  in 
Atree  et  Thyeste,  the  prince  is  represented  as  offering  to  his 
brother,  Thyestes,  a  goblet  filled  with  the  blood  of  his  own 
son.  Crebillon  later  tried  to  remedy  this  great  defect  by  in- 
troducing tender  sentiments,  but,  for  all  his  expedients,  he 
does  not  move  us. 

His  best  play  is  Rhadamiste  et  Zenobie.  The  subject, 
which  is  very  romantic,  was  borrowed  by  the  author  from  a 
novel  of  the  Precieuses  school.  It  concerns  a  king  of  Arme- 
nia, who,  seeing  himself  overcome  by  the  Romans,  does  not 
wish  to  leave  his  wife  in  the  power  of  his  enemies.  In  a  fit  of 
jealousy  he  stabs  her  and  casts  her  into  the  river.  Zenobie  is 
saved,  and  later  returns,  under  a  false  name,  to  the  presence 
of  her  husband.  The  violent  character  of  Rhadamiste,  his 
agitated  life,  his  jealousy,  and  his  remorse,  are  pictured  in  a 
true  and  striking  manner,  and  contrast  happily  with  the 
sweet  and  loving  character  of  Zenobie.  Disarmed  by  this 
feverish  love,  she  finally  pardons  him,  and  is  reconciled  to 
her  would-be  murderer.  This  work  is  the  only  celebrated 
tragedy  that  appeared  on  the  French  stage  in  the  interval 
which  separates  Racine  from  Voltaire.  It  is  said  that,  acting 
on  the  advice  of  a  friend,  Crebillon  read  his  tragedy  to  Boi- 
leau,  who  had  grown  old  and  was  ill.  Boileau  listened  atten- 
tively enough  to  the  first  two  scenes;  then  he  rose  in  anger, 

267 


THE    HISTORY   OF   FRENCH   LITERATURE 

crying:  "  What,  Monsieur,  you  wish  to  hasten  my  death  by 
reading  these  detestable  verses !  I  see  in  you  an  author  com- 
pared with  whom,  Scudery  and  Pradon  are  shining  lights.  I 
do  not  regret  to  die  since  my  country  produces  such  authors. ' ' 
Brunetiere  calls  the  tragedies  of  Crebillon  melodramas  in 
verse.  Crebillon  had  a  prodigious  memory.  He  kept  in  mind 
the  entire  play,  with  all  corrections  and  additions,  and  did 
not  put  it  in  writing  until  the  time  of  the  performance. 

Since  the  production  of  the  first  French  opera  in  1671, 
this  genre  of  divertissement  became  very  popular.  Mazarin 
had  introduced  a  troupe  of  singers  into  France  from  Italy, 
where  opera  was  flourishing  since  the  sixteenth  century. 
Perrin  and  Cambert  wrote  the  words  and  music  of  Pomone, 
the  first  French  opera  given  in  1671.  Then  Lulli  the  Italian 
composer,  receiving  a  privilege  from  Louis  XIV,  opened  his 
theater  in  1672,  under  the  name  of  Academic  Roy  ale  de 
Musique,  for  operatic  productions,  and  engaged  Quinault  at 
four  thousand  livres  to  furnish  annually  a  poem  for  the  opera. 
Lulli,  director  and  manager  of  this  theater  for  fourteen  years, 
wrote  the  music  for  the  ballets  which  Louis  XIV  himself 
danced,  and  he  also  put  to  music  Moliere's  comedy  ballets. 

Philippe  Quinault  (1635-1698),  wrote  twelve  opera  poems 
for  Lulli,  besides  sixteen  tragedies  and  comedies,  distinguished 
by  a  charming  and  facile  style.  Quinault  was  called  the 
"  handsome  Quirinus,"  and  together  with  Saint-Evremond, 
known  by  his  literary  correspondence,  was  a  frequenter  of  the 
ruelles  of  the  salons. 

Charles  Rollin  (1661-1741),  the  eleve  divin,  one  of  the 
precursors  of  reform  in  modern  methods,  was  one  of  the  most 
beautiful  characters  of  his  time,  but  a  poor  historian.  He 
devoted  himself  entirely  to  the  education  of  youth.  His 
Traite  des  Etudes,  is  a  work  whose  merit  still  stands.  "  No- 
where," says  Villemain,  "  has  education  in  letters,  the  only 
complete  education  of  the  moral  man,  been  rendered  more 
useful  and  attractive."  He  published  thirteen  volumes  of 
L'Histoire  Ancienne.  Montesquieu  called  Rollin  "  The  Bee 
of  France." 

Nicholas  Malebranche  (1638-1715),  one  of  the  great 
French  writers  and  philosophers  of  this  century,  continued 
the  Cartesian  method,  but  essayed  to  overcome  the  dualism 

268 


LE    SIECLE   DE   LOUIS   XIV 

of  that  philosophy.  He  wished  to  conciliate  Christianism 
with  Cartesianism  by  conforming  his  system  to  the  dogma,  and 
asserting  that  the  human  mind  and  the  divine  word  are  one. 
Arnaud  contested  his  doctrines  and  Fenelon  also  undertook  to 
refute  them. 

Pseudo-classic  literature  began  with  Jean-Baptiste  Rous- 
seau (1670-1741).  He  studied  with  the  Jesuits,  and  "  com- 
menced as  an  author  "  with  his  Odes  Sacrees — imitated  from 
the  Bible,  addressed  to  the  converted  old  men  of  the  seven- 
teenth century.  At  the  same  time  he  composed  licentious  epi- 
grams, destined  for  young  libertines  who  were  to  be  the  prof- 
ligates of  the  regency.  Of  his  "  Ode  to  Posterity,"  Voltaire 
said  to  him :  ' '  Gare  que  cet  ecrit  in  extremis  n  'aille  pas  a  son 
adresse !  " 1  J.  B.  Rousseau  was  the  son  of  a  mason  of  whom 
he  was  ashamed.  On  making  his  first  dramatic  success,  he 
said  to  his  father,  who  had  come  to  congratulate  him :  ' '  I 
do  not  know  you!  "  To  which  his  father  answered:  "  Do 
not  forget  that  it  is  the  mason  who  made  the  poet!  " 

Rousseau  never  succeeded  in  obtaining  triumphs  in  drama, 
although  he  thought  himself  particularly  called  to  that  voca- 
tion; and  the  failure  of  his  comedy  of  Le  Flatteur,  gave 
birth  to  infamous  and  celebrated  couplets  which  brought  on 
him  a  decree  of  banishment.  He  passed  his  last  years  in 
Brussels  and  in  Germany.  Piron,  author  of  La  Metromanie 
and  of  many  songs  and  satires,  composed  his  epitaph: 

Paris  fut  son  berceau, 

Le  Brabant  fut  sa  tombe. 

Sa  vie  fut  trop  longue  de  moitte — 

Trente  ans  digne  d 'en vie, 

Trente  ans  digne  de  pitied* 

J.  B.  Rousseau  was  especially  remarkable  as  a  writer  of 
epigrams.  After  Racine,  Voltaire  and  Piron,  'J.  B.  Rousseau 
and  Lebrun  excelled  in  this  pungent  form  of  literature  in 
France.  This  is  Rousseau's  epigram  against  the  Prince  de 
Rohan,  Cardinal  of  France : 

1  "  Beware  that  this  composition  in  extremis  (at  death's  door)  will  not 
reach  its  address." 

2  "  Paris  was  his  cradle,  Brabant  his  grave.     His  lif e  was  too  long  by 
half — for  thirty  years  to  be  envied,  for  thirty  years  to  be  pitied." 

269 


THE    HISTORY   OF    FRENCH   LITERATURE 

Un  vieux  Rohan,  tout  bouffi  de  son  nom, 
Oppresse  fut  du  foudre  apoplectique. 
Un  vieux  docteur,  horame  de  grand  renom, 
Appele  fut  dans  ce  moment  critique. 
Pres  du  malade,  il  s'assied,  prend  le  pouls: 
"Eh!  bien,  dit-il,  comment  vous  sentez-vous? " 
Point  ne  repond.     Notre  ruse  Boerhave  ' 
Lui  crie  alors  d'un  ton  un  peu  plus  fort: 
"Monseigneur! — Rien!  Peste!  Le  cas  est  grave. 
Prince! — Au  plus  mal! — Votre  Altesse!  II  est  mort.2 

Four  comic  authors  came  into  prominence  toward  the 
end  of  the  century:  Regnard,  Dufresny,  Dancourt,  and  Le 
Sage.  The  comedies  of  Jean  Francois  Regnard  (1655-1709), 
are  considered  the  best  after  Moliere.  Written  with  great 
vivacity  and  ease,  his  plays  are  characterized  by  their  good 
humor  and  gayety,  and  in  the  facility  of  dialogue  he  is 
unsurpassed.  Of  his  twenty-five  plays,  several  are  still  fa- 
vorites on  the  French  stage :  Le  Legataire  Universel,  Le 
Joueur,  Le  Distrait,  Les  Menechmes.  In  Regnard 's  satires 
of  contemporaneous  vices,  his  only  aim  has  been  to  provoke 
laughter.  Voltaire  said  of  him:  "  Qui  ne  se  plait  avec 
Regnard  n'est  digne  d 'admirer  Moliere."  3  A  famous  adven- 
ture which  Regnard  experienced  he  describes  in  his  novel 
La  Provengale:  On  a  sea  voyage  from  Italy  to  Marseilles, 
Regnard  was  taken  prisoner  by  pirates  together  with  a  lady 
whom  he  loved,  and  her  husband;  Regnard  was  sold  to  Ach- 
met-Talem,  who  made  him  his  cook,  and  took  him  to  Constanti- 
nople. Regnard 's  family  rescued  him  and  he  returned  to 
France  with  the  lady  of  his  affections,  and  made  preparations 
to  marry  her,  when  the  husband,  whom  they  believed  dead, 

1  Famous  Dutch  doctor,  used  here  as  a  class-name. 

2  Old  Rohan,  all  puffed  up  with  his  name,  was  oppressed  with  an  apoplec- 
tic stroke.     So  an  old  doctor,  a  man  of  great  renown,  was  called  in  at  this 
critical  moment.     Seating  himself,  he  felt  the  sick  man's  pulse.     "Well," 
he  said,  "  how  are  you?  "     There  was  no  response.     Our  crafty  Boerhave 
then  called  out  in  a  little  louder  tone:  "Monseigneur!  ...  No  answer! 
The  deuce!    The  case  is  grave.    Prince!  .  .  .  Past  recovery!  .  .  .  Your 
Highness!  .  .  .  He  is  dead!" 

3  "  He  who  takes  no  pleasure  with  Regnard  is  unworthy  of  admiring 
Moliere." 

270 


LE    SIECLE   DE   LOUIS   XIV 

appeared.  Eegnard  then  sought  distraction  in  travel,  return- 
ing after  several  years  to  France,  where  he  divided  his  time 
between  Paris  and  his  chateau  de  Grillon,  in  literary  pursuits 
and  pleasure. 

Charles  Riviere-Dufresny  (1648-1724),  was  successful  as 
musician,  artist,  architect,  poet,  novelist,  and  dramatic  author. 
The  incident  of  his  having  married  his  laundress  to  liquidate 
his  debts  to  her,  furnished  Le  Sage  with  a  character  for  his 
Diable  boiteux. 

Florent  Barton,  Sieur  D'Ancourt  (1661-1725),  called 
Dancourt,  wrote  about  sixty  comedies,  some  of  which  are  still 
popular.  He  excelled  in  representing  in  a  satirical  manner 
the  customs  of  his  epoch,  and  especially  the  power  of  money 
and  scramble  for  position.  He  was  at  first  a  lawyer,  but  hav- 
ing run  away  with  and  married  a  comedian's  daughter,  he 
adopted  that  profession  to  please  her,  and  remained  for  thirty- 
three  years  at  the  Comedie-Franc.aise  as  one  of  its  most  favor- 
ite comedians. 

Alain  Rene  Le  Sage  (1668-1747),  was  a  dramatic  author 
and  novelist,  and  was  inspired  from  the  start  by  Spanish 
literature.  The  title  and  plot  of  his  first  novel  Le  Diable 
Boiteux,  are  taken  from  the  Spanish  novel,  El  diablo  cojuelo, 
by  Guevara,  but  the  episodes  and  characters,  essentially 
French,  are  his  own.  The  author  tells  how  Asmodee,  a 
malicious  and  tricky  servant  of  the  devil,  is  indebted  to  a 
young  student,  Don  Cleophas,  for  liberating  him  from  the 
captivity  of  a  magician,  and  repays  him  by  letting  him  see 
from  a  tower  in  Madrid  the  interior  of  all  the  houses,  whose 
roofs  are  uncovered  at  a  signal  from  the  devil's  servant. 
The  novelist  portrays  with  amusing  humor  and  fine  satire  a 
series  of  scenes  drawn  from  various  walks  of  life.  The  suc- 
cess of  the  work  was  such  that  two  purchasers  had  a  dispute 
with  weapons  for  the  last  copy  that  remained  in  a  bookstore. 

The  dramatic  works  of  Le  Sage  are  Crispin,  rival  de  son 
maitre,  and  Turcaret.  Crispin  wishes  to  marry  the  fiancee 
of  his  master,  in  order  to  receive  the  dower  and  flee  with  it. 
This  is  only  the  knavery  of  valets,  but  the  dialogue  is  worthy 
of  Moliere  in  its  spirit  and  naturalness.  Turcaret  has  a 
more  elevated  purpose.  People  had  just  been  organizing 
joint-stock  societies,  and  an  unbridled  era  of  gambling  had 

271 


THE    HISTORY   OF    FRENCH   LITERATURE 

resulted.  Many  families  had  been  ruined;  but  many  people 
without  intelligence  or  education,  had  found  themselves  sud- 
denly rich,  and  wished  to  mimic  the  debauched  grands  sei- 
gneurs. These  unscrupulous  financiers,  so  much  in  predom- 
inance at  the  time,  are  depicted  with  unsparing  vigor.  Tur- 
caret  is  one  of  these  men;  and  this  vulgar  and  insolent  rev- 
enue farmer  and  his  corrupt  entourage  are  so  true  to  life, 
that  those  who  felt  that  they  were  hit  by  his  comedy  offered 
a  fortune  to  Le  Sage  if  he  would  suppress  it.  He  did  not 
consent  to  this,  preferring  to  lead  a  life  often  painful  and 
harassed. 

The  immortal  masterpiece  of  Le  Sage  is  Gil  Bias.  The 
hero  is  a  young  man  whom  his  parents  send  forth  in  search 
of  employment,  confiding  to  him  a  mule  and  very  little  money. 
Gil  Bias  successively  mounts  all  the  rungs  of  the  social  ladder. 
We  see  him  despoiled  by  tavern  keepers  and  parasites;  now 
connected  with  thieves,  now  with  doctors,  lawyers,  players, 
noble  personages;  with  an  archbishop,  whose  sermons  he  cor- 
rects—  and,  finally,  as  secretary  of  two  celebrated  ministers 
who  in  turn  govern  Spain.  Thus  the  author  brings  before 
us  a  complete  picture  of  society  —  interrupting  himself,  from 
time  to  time,  to  give  us  sentimental  bits  which  do  not  equal 
his  comic  passages.  The  narrator,  who  is  Gil  Bias  himself, 
is  a  good  character — loving  and  thinking  aright,  but  some- 
times doing  evil,  and  exciting  our  sympathies,  in  spite  of  his 
errors.  He  is  one  of  the  best  literary  types  of  France.  Gil 
Bias  was  also  a  loan  from  Spain,  but  the  author  in  this  case 
borrowed  only  the  scene ;  the  fiber  of  the  novel,  the  characters, 
so  diverse  and  typical  —  especially  the  hero,  the  true  ancestor 
of  Figaro — all  this  is  his  own  invention.  Brunetiere  says: 
"  The  originality  of  Le  Sage's  novel  lies  in  the  fact  that  he 
has  '  humanized  '  that  which  he  imitated  of  the  Spanish  novel. 
To  understand  the  meaning  of  this  word,  it  suffices  to  compare 
Gil  Bias  with  his  translation  of  Estevanville  Gonzales.  Of 
the  rogue's  confession  in  the  Spanish  novel  he  made  a  pic- 
ture of  humanity,  and  from  a  succession  of  indifferent  adven- 
tures he  evolved  a  satire  of  the  conditions  of  his  time.  .  .  . 
The  importance  of  Le  Sage's  novel  lies  in  the  fact  of  having 
constituted  the  realistic  novel  as  a  literary  genre." 

Pierre  Bayle  (1647-1706)  was  one  of  the  most  influential 

272 


LE    SIECLE    DE   LOUIS   XIV 

philosopher-theologians  and  critics  of  France.  He  leaned 
toward  skepticism,  and  was  a  precursor  of  the  Encyclopedists 
of  the  eighteenth  century.  His  Dictionnaire  historique  et 
critique  is  still  considered  a  good  book  of  reference  for  the  cul- 
ture and  literature  of  the  seventeenth  century.  His  Reponses 
a  un  provincial  is  a  collection  of  philosophical  and  religious 
dissertations.  Mennechet  writes:  "  Attacked  often  with 
violence,  Bayle  defended  himself  always  with  moderation, 
and  merited  by  his  virtues  and  talent  that  France,  who 
banished  him,  should  consider  it  an  honor  to  number  him 
among  her  illustrious  children." 

Bernard  Le  Bovier  de  Fontenelle  (1657-1757),  born  at 
Rouen,  was  a  nephew  of  Corneille.  His  importance  is  almost 
entirely  confined  to  the  influence  which  he  exercised  on  his 
circle,  by  the  universality  of  his  knowledge,  and  the  charm 
of  his  conversation.  He  was  also  for  many  years  the  oracle 
of  the  salons.  In  his  last  years,  he  replied  to  a  lady  who 
asked  his  age:  "  Sh-h!  Death  has  forgotten  me."  Fonte- 
nelle introduced  science  into  the  domain  of  literature,  and 
had  a  remarkable  talent  for  putting  science  within  the  reach 
of  ordinary  people;  it  is  this  which  made  the  success  of  his 
Entretiens  sur  la  pluralite  des  mondes,  a  kind  of  astronomical 
treatise.  For  forty-three  years  he  was  secretary  of  the  Acad- 
emy of  Sciences  —  a  post  which  exercised  his  talents  agree- 
ably. In  his  Histoire  de  I'Academie,  he  touches  everything 
with  a  light  hand,  and  makes  clear  to  the  least  cultivated 
minds  the  most  perplexing  scientific  questions.  It  was  he 
who  first  drew  knowledge  out  of  the  great  tomes  in  which  it 
was  concealed,  and  made  it  easy  of  access  to  ordinary  persons. 
The  Eloges  des  academiciens,  which  he  was  officially  called  on 
to  pronounce,  are  perhaps  the  most  interesting  part  of  this 
work  of  Fontenelle,  and  one  of  his  best  claims  on  posterity. 
His  other  works  include  Histoire  des  Oracles,  Histoire  du 
Theatre  Frangais,  Vie  de  Pierre  Corneille  and  Traite  sur 
le  Bonheur.  In  his  Digression  sur  les  modernes,  he  espoused 
the  cause  of  the  moderns  in  the  Querelle  des  anciens  et  des 
modernes. 

Fontenelle  was  a  pronounced  skeptic  of  marvelous  intel- 
ligence. His  thought  is  tinctured  with  a  kind  of  discretion 
compounded  of  prudence  and  good  taste.  He  used  to  say: 
19  273 


THE    HISTORY   OP   FRENCH   LITERATURE 

"  If  my  hands  were  full  of  truths,  I  should  take  care  not  to 
open  them,"  alluding  to  the  persecution  which  has  too  often 
assailed  the  innovator.  Fontenelle  lived  to  be  a  centenarian. 
He  therefore  belonged  to  two  centuries,  ended  the  list  of 
writers  belonging  to  the  seventeenth  century,  and  with  Bayle 
began  the  eighteenth  century. 


CHAPTER   XVIII 

THE  EIGHTEENTH,   OR  PHILOSOPHIC,   CENTURY 

WITH  reference  to  the  preceding  period,  the  eighteenth 
century  is  at  once  a  continuation,  a  development,  and  a  reac- 
tion. It  is  a  continuation,  inasmuch,  as  in  certain  points  it 
copies  its  predecessor,  but  with  weakening  modifications ;  and 
this  is  true,  especially  of  three  forms  of  art  —  tragedy,  com- 
edy, and  preaching.  The  tragedy  was  that  of  the  classic 
school  badly  imitated.  Voltaire  alone  gave  a  certain  eclat  to 
this  genre,  and  his  tragedy  shows  clearly  the  traces  of  devel- 
opment, though  he  made  of  it  an  instrument  to  propagate 
his  ideas.  But  with  respect  to  comedy  and,  particularly, 
preaching,  we  find  only  impairment  of  quality.  Comedy 
flourished,  it  is  true,  but  it  was  an  imitation  of  Moliere,  whose 
principal  followers  were  Regnard,  Dufresny,  Destouches,  Dan- 
court,  Piron,  and  Gresset.  The  oraison  funebre  was  stilled, 
and  the  eloquence  of  the  pulpit  ended  with  Massillon. 

The  eighteenth  century  is  a  development,  because  toward 
its  close,  worn  out  with  analysis,  it  saw  the  efflorescence  of  the 
poetry  of  nature.  But  especially  is  this  period  a  reaction; 
that  indeed  is  its  dominant  character.  Thus  it  is  that,  among 
peoples  of  great  intellectual  development,  "  centuries  suc- 
ceed one  another,  and  the  human  mind  accomplishes  its  des- 
tiny." "  Nothing  is  more  different,  and,  nevertheless,  noth- 
ing is  more  closely  connected  than  these  two  epochs,"  M. 
Villemain  has  said. 

Indeed,  there  is  connection,  or  continuity,  between  action 
and  its  consequence  —  reaction.  All  reaction  is  vindictive 
and  partial,  resembling  reprisals.  That  of  the  eighteenth 
century  is  excessive.  Three  authorities  were  denied  and  al- 
most overturned:  the  ancients,  the  religious,  and  social  insti- 
tutions. All  the  problems  of  life  were  solved,  everything 

275 


THE    HISTORY   OF    FRENCH   LITERATURE 

was  interpreted  and  illumined,  without  the  preliminary  labor 
of  study.  Goethe's  Gottes  unbegrelflicli  hohen  Werken  found 
no  echo  in  the  France  of  the  eighteenth  century.  Finally, 
in  politics,  there  was  pronounced  reaction  against  authorities 
and  institutions  —  a  reaction,  doubtless,  purely  theoretical, 
a  reaction  solely  in  writing.  "  Absolute  monarchy,"  says 
a  French  critic,  "  seemed  to  exist  still  intact,  social  powers 
still  seemed  to  hold  themselves  upright ;  only  two  things  were 
lacking — glory  and  faith  in  existing  institutions.1  '  Glory 
gone,  the  institutions  that  inspired  it  must  necessarily  be 
questioned.  But  this  was  not  always  done  in  a  subversive 
spirit ;  the  attacks,  moreover,  arose  from  a  scientific  and  con- 
servative point  of  view.  Thus  Montesquieu  wrote  his  book 
on  "  The  Spirit  of  Laws,"  intent  on  conservation  and  con- 
solidation. (He  wished  to  preserve  while  ameliorating,  and  in 
ameliorating  to  consolidate.)  Things  were  not  attacked  from 
the  front,  but  everything  was  attacked  in  turn — which  could 
not  have  happened  in  the  preceding  century.  Some  there  were 
who  wanted  nothing  but  the  "  legitimate  religion  of  God." 
But  Catholicism  had  become  incrusted  in  the  body  of  society, 
like  the  portrait  of  Phidias  which  could  not  be  detached  from 
the  statue  of  Jupiter  without  breaking  it  into  pieces.  The 
throne  rested  on  the  altar ;  the  king  was  king  only  when  he  was 
consecrated,  the  anointed  of  the  Lord.  The  glory  of  dis- 
playing intelligence  prevailed  over  all  else  —  if  anything 
characterized  the  French  spirit,  it  was  precisely  this.  ' '  Intel- 
ligence is  a  dignity  in  the  world,"  said  Madame  de  La  Fa- 
yette.  "  In  France  it  is  so  much  the  more  necessary  as  one 
occupies  a  more  prominent  position;  the  man  who  has  this 
esprit  alone,  will  win  out  over  him  who  possesses  only  rank 
and  fortune. ' '  In  the  eighteenth  century,  in  fact,  the  major- 
ity of  men  of  quality  loved  their  intellect  and  character  better 
than  their  rank.  With  some  it  went  even  further :  they  were 
possessed  with  a  sincere  desire  to  see  clearly,  in  order  to  cor- 
rect abuses  —  with  the  love  of  what  they  were  beginning 

1  There  are  dead  things  which  seem  to  live:  the  absolute  monarchy 
could  no  longer  agree  with  the  higher  and  more  liberal  new  thought,  which 
was  especially  democratic.  The  nobility,  the  clergy,  and  the  people,  had 
not  a  single  right.  The  Third  Estate  was  nothing.  "  What  do  you  wish 
to  be? "  was  asked.  "Everything,"  was  the  answer. 

276 


THE    EIGHTEENTH,    OR    PHILOSOPHIC,    CENTURY 

to  call  "  the  public  welfare."  Literature  precipitated  all 
these  elements  in  the  same  direction,  or  at  least  it  hastened 
their  course.  For  literature  is  never  the  expression  of  con- 
ventional society.  It  represents  moral  and  intellectual  society 
— the  state  of  customs  and  minds.  Antiquity,  religion,  so- 
cial institutions  —  these,  then,  were  the  three  things  on  which 
hinged  the  reaction  of  the  eighteenth  century."  / 

The  eighteenth  century  has  been  entitled  ' '  the  philosophic 
century."  The  writers  of  the  seventeenth  century  were  psy- 
chologists, those  of  the  eighteenth  were  philosophers  preoccu- 
pied with  social  life,  its  laws  and  institutions.  Its  master- 
pieces were  no  longer  tragedies  and  funeral  orations,  but 
studies  of  legislation  and  treatises  on  education.  Poetry  held 
a  secondary  place,  and  prose  which  had  become  precise  and 
rigorous  was  the  instrument  of  propaganda.  Eloquence  no 
longer  confined  to  the  pulpit  was  spread  and  distributed,  not 
so  much  orally  as  in  the  pamphlet.  Philosophy,  having  broken 
from  tradition  and  prejudice,  became  analytic  and  sensual. 
There  is  nothing  more  typically  French  than  the  literature 
of  the  seventeenth  century;  that  of  the  eighteenth  was  no 
longer  exclusively  French,  for  French  thought  became  less 
profound  and  less  concentrated.  France  decentralized  itself 
and  received  new  ideas,  first  from  England,  then  from  Ger- 
many. Voltaire  was  the  first  to  reveal  English  genius  and 
culture,  just  as  later  Madame  de  Stael  revealed  the  German. 

English  comedies  of  a  moralizing  tenor  were  being  written 
by  Gibber,  Steel,  Susanna  Centlivre ;  and  during  Queen  Anne 's 
reign  there  began  to  appear  those  weekly  publications  whose 
influence  was  felt  throughout  England  and  the  Continent. 
In  1709,  appeared  the  Taller,  and  in  1711,  the  Spectator.1 
Through  all  these  mediums  English  thought  and  life  became 
known  to  the  French,  when  men  such  as  J.  J.  Rousseau,  Vol- 
taire, Maupertuis,  Montesquieu,  Prevost,  Destouches,  went 
to  live  in  England.  Such  writers  as  Marivaux,  Piron,  Louis 
Racine  (who  translated  Milton),  d'Argenson,  de  la  Chaussee, 
Du  Boccage,  and  Letourneur  were  occupied  with  English 

1  The  Spectator  comprised  555  numbers,  of  which  many  were  written 
by  Addison  and  Steele.  Addison  wrote  the  "Sir  Roger  de  Coverley" 
papers,  and  "killed  that  gentleman  in  No.  517,  so  that  nobody  else  might 
murder  him." 

277 


THE    HISTORY   OF   FRENCH   LITERATURE 

literature  by  translating  or  imitating  it.  In  this  manner 
arose  a  healthful  middle  class  and  moral  element  was  injected 
into  the  literature  of  France,  forming  a  counter  current  to  the 
corruption  of  the  times,  and  tending  to  improvement  and 
reform.  The  writers  of  the  seventeenth  century  were  grouped 
around  the  king  and  confined  to  his  dictum.  In  the  eighteenth 
century,  the  court  was  no  longer  the  center  of  attention  and 
ambition,  but  the  approbation  of  the  public  was  sought  after. 
The  society  of  men  of  letters  was  greatly  developed,  and  the 
number  of  second-rate  writers  was  especially  multiplied. 

Women  played  a  peculiar  role  in  this  society  of  letters. 
During  the  reign  of  Louis  XIV,  Madame  de  Sevigne,  Madame 
de  La  Fayette,  and  other  brilliant  women  saw  disappear 
before  them  the  precedence  which  had  been  accorded  them 
as  leaders  of  the  literary  world,  during  the  reign  of  the 
Precieuses  of  the  Hotel  de  Rambouillet.  They  were  no  longer 
at  the  head  of  the  society  of  letters;  but  in  the  eighteenth 

\century  this  role  was  again  possible,  and  the  salons  of  the 
ladies  became  the  great  centers  for  the  writers  of  the  time. 
The  theological  and  literary  quarrels  under  Louis  XIV 
were  succeeded  by  social  and  philosophical  questions.  Litera- 
ture became  an  instrument  of  propaganda  and  philosophical 
theories.  The  eighteenth  century  was,  above  all,  an  epoch 
of  combat;  the  creative  talents  were  succeeded  by  the  de- 
structive talents,  which  were  wittier  than  powerful;  rhetoric 
replaced  eloquence,  wit  took  the  place  of  genius.  The  writer 
could  rise  to  power  and  fame  without  the  favor  of  the 
court  (a  thing  impossible  in  the  seventeenth  century),  and 
even  in  open  defiance  of  it;  yet  at  the  same  time  we  see  the 
persecution  of  independent  writers  by  the  men  in  power, 
who,  on  the  least  pretext,  sent  the  offenders  to  the  Bastille. 
The  unexampled  subjugation  of  thought  and  art  during  the 
reign  of  Louis  XIV,  necessarily  produced  a  reaction;  with 
his  death,  there  first  of  all  disappeared  the  reverence  for 
royalty;  this  accomplished,  the  political  chanson,  which  had 
begun  to  appear  during  the  last  ten  years  of  his  reign, 
achieved  a  vogue  it  had  not  known  for  a  hundred  years. 
The  mocking  songs  of  the  Chansonnier  historique,  collected 
by  Clairambault  and  Maurepas,  are  the  precursors  of  the 
serious  political  literature  of  the  ensuing  decade. 

278 


THE    EIGHTEENTH,    OR    PHILOSOPHIC,    CENTURY 

In  spite  of  the  immoral  life  of  Louis  XIV,  he  always  pre- 
served a  semblance  of  the  proprieties,  whereas  the  Regent 
and  Louis  XV  flaunted  their  vices  shamelessly,  thus  encour- 
aging emulation.  From  all  this  we  perceive  that  we  must 
keep  in  mind  the  depravity  of  the  court,  and  consequently 
that  of  society,  as  well  as  the  influence  of  English  philosophy, 
in  order  to  understand  the  bulk  of  French  literature  in  the 
eighteenth  century. 

Louis  XV,  the  Well-Beloved — third  son  of  Louis,  Duke 
of  Burgundy,  and  great-grandson  of  Louis  XIV — first  reigned 
under  the  regency  of  the  Duke  of  Orleans.  The  regency  was 
signalized  by  the  bankruptcy  of  Law,1  and  the  war  against 
Spain.  Louis  XV  married  Marie  Leczinska,  but  he  let  him- 
self be  influenced  by  his  favorites.  The  Duchesse  de  Cha- 
teauroux  and  her  three  sisters  of  the  Nesle-Mailly  family  were 
successively  his  mistresses.2  From  1745  to  1764,  Jeanne 
Antoinette  Poisson,  Marquise  de  Pompadour,  exercised  an  un- 
fortunate influence  on  the  king,  as  also  on  the  government, 
and  contributed  to  the  entanglement  of  France  in  the  Seven 
Years'  War.  She  cost  France  40,000,000  livres  by  her 
prodigalities,  which  are  not  excused  by  the  protection  she 
skillfully  accorded  to  the  artists  and  writers  of  her  time. 


1  John  Law,  born  in  Edinburgh,  a  famous  financier,  controller  general 
of  French  finances  under  the  regency.  He  founded  the  Banque  gentrale 
and  formed  the  Mississippi  scheme  (Mississippi  Bubble),  controlling  the 
French  territory  in  America,  then  called  Louisiana,  to  pay  off  the  national 
debt  of  France.  This  company  he  united  with  the  East  India  and  China 
Companies  later  known  as  the  Compagnie  des  Indes.  Law's  schemes  re- 
sulted in  a  great  financial  panic  in  1720. 

1  In  1232  Eustache  de  St.  Pol,  wife  of  a  lord  of  Bruges,  presented  the 
tower  of  Nesle  to  Saint  Louis  (Louis  IX),  who  ceded  it  to  his  mother,  Blanche 
of  Castille.  The  pious  queen  could  not  perceive  its  destiny.  Philippe  the 
Long  bought  it  in  1308  from  Amaury  de  Nesle  for  5,000  livres.  The  State 
built  the  tower,  situated  on  the  left  bank  of  the  Seine,  in  order  to  defend 
the  river,  the  property  at  that  time  belonging  to  the  family  of  Nesle. 
Some  time  after,  Philip  sent  thither  his  wife,  Jeanne  de  Bourgogne,  to 
punish  her  for  certain  misdeeds.  The  tower  furnished  Alexandre  Dumas 
the  title  for  a  celebrated  drama,  La  Tour  de  Nesle,  in  which  Marguerite  de 
Bourgogne,  wife  of  Louis  le  Hutin,  infamous  for  her  crimes,  plays  the 
principal  role.  The  mausoleum  of  Mazarin  was  erected  on  the  site  three 
centuries  later. 

279 


THE    HISTORY   OF    FRENCH   LITERATURE 

Jeanne  Becu,  Comtesse  du  Barry,  was  the  king's  favorite  after 
1768,  and  her  extravagance  was  also  fatal  to  the  people. 

Le  Livre  Rouge  (the  Red  Book) — three  large  volumes 
containing  a  secret  register  of  the  private  expenses  of  Louis 
XV  and  XVI,  and  still  extant  in  the  National  Library  at 
Paris — mentions  the  expenditure  of  228,000,000  livres  from 
May  19,  1774  to  August  16,  1789.  The  memoranda  of  cash 
disbursements  show  that  860,000,000  livres  were  expended,  for 
pensions  and  otherwise,  without  legal  authority  or  warrant. 
But,  more  extraordinary  still,  is  the  disclosure  that  Madame  du 
Barry  enjoyed  credit  in  the  Red  Book,  by  favor  of  her  royal 
lover,  not  only  for  herself,  but  for  her  kinsmen  and  proteges. 
In  the  first  place,  she  is  listed  personally  for  500,000  francs, 
paid  by  order  of  Louis  XVI.  She  enjoyed,  besides,  an  allow- 
ance of  300,000  francs  quarterly.  Then  appears  a  pension 
of  80,000  francs  for  her  husband;  another  of  150,000  livres 
for  her  brother-in-law,  and  a  sum  of  about  1,000,000  ecus  for 
her  friend  the  Duchess  of  Polignac's  family.  After  the 
publication  of  the  Red  Book — so  called  because  the  entries 
were  made  in  red  ink — Mirabeau  exclaimed :  1,000  ecus  to  the 
family  of  d'Assas,1  for  saving  the  State,  1,000,000  to  the  fam- 
ily of  Polignac  for  having  sent  it  to  perdition!  " 

So  the  favorites  reigned,  while  Louis  XV  struck  at  the 
Jesuits  and  the  Parlements — the  two  most  solid  supports  of 
the  monarchy.  But  by  the  side  of  all  this  corruption  that 
spread  to  the  very  steps  of  the  throne,  the  philosophers  of 
the  eighteenth  century,  through  their  writings,  brought  about 
a  reaction  against  the  abuses  of  the  time:  Voltaire,  Montes- 
quieu, Rousseau,  the  Encyclopedists,  and  the  Physiocrates 
(economists)  created  a  powerful  current  of  opinion,  while 
Franklin,  Galvani,  Lavoisier,  Linne,  Buffon,  Jussien,  directed 
the  sciences  into  new  paths. 

tradition  has  it  that  the  Chevalier  d'Assas'  famous  cry:  "A  moi! 
Auvergne!  (the  name  of  the  regiment  in  which  he  was  captain)  voila 
les  ennemis!"  saved  France  from  the  enemy  in  October,  1760,  while  it 
caused  his  death. 


280 


THE    EIGHTEENTH,    OR    PHILOSOPHIC,    CENTURY 

THE  SALONS  OF  THE  EIGHTEENTH  CENTURY 

During  the  last  ten  years  of  the  reign  of  Louis  XIV, 
when  he  withdrew  from  pleasure  to  lead  a  life  of  piety,  and 
thus  lost  touch  with  the  intellectual  movement,  society  re- 
trieved itself.  From  the  debris  of  the  court  the  salons  were 
formed;  and  in  the  eighteenth  century  these  became  a  power 
through  which  writers  exercised  their  influence  upon  society. 
The  Cour  de  Sceaux  expressed  the  need  of  amusement  that 
was  felt  during  the  last  ten  years  of  the  king's  life;  the 
Duchesse  du  Maine,  granddaughter  of  the  great  Conde,  made 
of  her  chateau  de  Sceaux  a  sort  of  Versailles  in  miniature. 
While  the  king's  reign  closed  sadly  amid  public  misfortunes 
and  private  sorrows,  at  the  court  of  Sceaux  there  was  only 
laughter  and  amusement.  The  duchess  was  witty  and 
learned ;  she  played  comedy,  bethought  herself  of  some  amuse- 
ment every  hour,  and  turned  night  into  day.  She  instituted 
an  order  of  knighthood  called  Mouclie  a  miel,  and  presided  at 
feasts  belonging  to  a  series  under  the  name  of  the  Grandes 
nuits  de  Sceaux.  Mademoiselle  de  Launay,  one  of  her  ladies 
in  waiting,  who  suffered  much  from  her  caprices,  wrote  the 
Memoires  of  those  times  in  a  very  entertaining  manner. 

The  great  salons  of  the  eighteenth  century  were  those 
where  literature,  science,  philosophy,  religion,  and  politics 
were  the  subjects  of  discussion  and  conversation.  "  There 
could  be  no  more  interesting  history  than  that  of  the  cele- 
brated women  of  the  eighteenth  century,"  said  Goethe.  The 
first  salon  in  order  of  time  is  that  of  Anna  Theresa,  Marquise 
de  Lambert — author  of  works  on  education.  She  says :  ' '  We 
teach  women  to  please,  whereas  we  should  teach  them  to 
think  ";  and  she  contended  that  men  in  general  abuse  their 
strength.  The  Marquise  in  a  measure  took  up  the  work  of 
Madame  de  Rambouillet  in  aiming  to  improve  morals  and  man- 
ners. For  forty  years  she  held  receptions  in  her  apartment 
of  the  Palais  Mazarin.  The  Marquis  de  Valincourt,  The  Pre- 
sident Renault,  The  Comte  de  Saint-Aulaire,  The  Abbe  de 
Choisy,  The  Marquis  d'Argenson,  Antoine  Houdar  de  La 
Motte,  the  oracle  of  her  salon,  Montesquieu,  Marivaux,  Ter- 
rasson,  Fontenelle,  and  many  other  notables  frequented  her 
salon.  As  at  the  Hotel  de  Rambouillet  men  of  letters,  actors, 

281 


THE   HISTORY   OF   FRENCH   LITERATURE 

and  actresses  intermingled  with  the  aristocrats.  This  the  fa- 
mous actress  Adrienne  Lecouvreur  mentions  in  her  letters 
published  in  1892. 

The  second  salon  to  be  established  was  presided  over  by 
the  Marquise  de  Tencin,  sister  of  the  Cardinal  de  Tencin, 
Archbishop  of  Lyons,  and  mother  of  d'Alembert.  She  used 
to  say : ' '  Man  should  gain  friends  among  women ;  for  through 
women  one  can  do  whatever  one  wishes  with  man. ' ' 

The  salon  of  Marie  Therese  Rodet  Geoffrin  was  conducted 
with  great  ability.  Through  her  liberalities  she  gathered 
about  her  a  little  world  which  considered  her  as  its  Providence. 
Distinguished  foreigners  admitted  to  its  circles  testified  to 
the  sentiments  of  gratitude  and  affection  which  she  inspired; 
but  her  indulgence  never  degenerated  into  weakness.  Lord 
Walpole  called  Madame  Geoffrin  "Common  Sense."  Stanis- 
laus Poniatowski  held  her  in  great  esteem,  and  when  he  became 
King  of  Poland,  he  entertained  her  royally  at  his  court.  She 
supported  the  Encyclopedists,  but  in  spite  of  her  intimate 
relations  with  the  philosophers,  she  was  very  devout.  The 
habitues  of  her  salon  included  but  one  woman — Mademoiselle 
de  Lespinasse,  for  whom  d  'Alembert  felt  something  more  than 
friendship,  despite  her  lack  of  beauty.  Mademoiselle  de  Les- 
pinasse herself  opened  a  salon  after  her  breaking  off  with 
Madame  du  Deffand  with  whom  she  lived  for  ten  years  at  the 
convent  of  St.  Joseph  at  Paris.  Marmontel  has  characterized 
her  thus :  * '  An  astonishing  compound  of  propriety,  of  reason, 
of  wisdom  with  the  most  lively  mind,  the  most  ardent  soul, 
the  most  inflammable  imagination." 

Marie  de  Vichy  Chamrond,  Marquise  du  Deffand,  was 
one  of  the  most  celebrated  women  of  the  eighteenth  century. 
After  a  turbulent  life  in  Paris  and  at  the  court  of  Sceaux, 
Madame  du  Deffand  retired  to  the  convent  of  St.  Joseph,  but 
taking  with  her  the  great  society  of  the  epoch,  the  scholars, 
writers,  grand  lords  and  ladies.  La  Harpe  said  of  her:  "  It 
would  be  difficult  for  one  to  have  less  sensibility  and  more  ego- 
tism. ' '  She  herself  said :  "  I  have  never  been  able  to  love  any- 
thing. ' '  To  one  of  her  best  male  friends  she  remarked : ' '  There 
has  never  been  a  cloud  in  our  relations  with  each  other. ' '  Which 
prompted  her  friend  to  explain:  "  That  is  doubtless  because 
we  do  not  love  each  other."  This  friend  died,  and  Madame  du 

282- 


THE  EIGHTEENTH,  OB  PHILOSOPHIC,  CENTURY 

Deffand  went  to  dine  in  company  with  her  associates.  "  He 
died  this  evening  at  six  o'clock,"  she  said,  "  otherwise  you 
would  not  see  me  here."  Then  she  ate  a  very  hearty  dinner, 
for  she  was  something  of  a  gourmande.  Indeed,  Voltaire 
often  cautioned  her,  "  Do  not  eat  too  much."  To  him  she 
confessed:  "  I  fear  two  things — bodily  pain  and  mental  en- 
nui." It  was  Madame  du  Deffand  who,  alluding  to  the  epi- 
grammatic form  of  certain  chapters  of  the  ' '  Spirit  of  Laws  ' ' 
(L 'Esprit  des  Lois]  of  Montesquieu,  said  that  it  was  "  de 
1  'esprit  sur  les  lois. ' ' 1  Her  correspondence  with  the  greatest 
minds  of  her  time — Voltaire,  Horace  Walpole,  Renault,  and 
Montesquieu — is  full  of  interest,  and  bears  witness  to  the 
soundness  of  her  judgment. 

Louise  Florence  d'Epinay  married  at  the  age  of  nineteen 
de  La  Live  de  Bellegarde,  a  gambler  and  a  debauchee  who, 
according  to  Diderot,  ran  through  two  millions  without  say- 
ing a  good  word  or  doing  a  good  deed.  Forsaken  by  him, 
she  found  consolation  among  the  literary  reunions  of  her  salon 
frequented  by  Duclos,  d'Holbach,  Grimm  who  wrote  of  her 
in  his  famous  Correspondence,  J.  J.  Rousseau  whose  bene- 
factress she  was  and  for  whom  she  built  the  "  Ermitage  "  in 
her  park  of  La  Chevrette.  Voltaire  called  her  an  eagle  in  a 
cage  of  gauze.  She  published  some  interesting  Memoires. 

Mademoiselle  Guinault's  salon  was  enlivened  by  her  talent 
as  a  skillful  conversationalist,  but  her  tone  was  very  free,  and 
her  philosophy  savored  of  atheism.  This  afforded  an  op- 
portunity for  a  sally  by  J.  J.  Rousseau.  He  arose  to  take 
leave,  saying:  "  If  it  is  cowardly  to  speak  ill  of  an  absent 
friend,  it  is  a  crime  to  permit  anyone  to  say  anything  evil  of 
one's  God,  who  is  present."  Madame  de  Simiane,  grand- 
daughter of  Madame  de  Sevigne,  has  left  us  some  charming 
letters  descriptive  of  high  society  in  those  days. 

Paul  Henri  Dietrich,  Baron  d'Holbach  (a  German),  and 
Claude  Arien  Helvetius,  both  entertained  that  society  in 
which  the  tone  of  materialism  dominated.  Both  were  of  the 
Maecenas  type,  and  were  patrons  of  men  of  letters.  D'Hol- 
bach, a  philanthropist,  was  honored  by  J.  J.  Rousseau,  who 
transferred  him,  as  Wolmar,  to  the  pages  of  Julie,  ou  la 

1  Witticisms  concerning  laws. 
283 


THE    HISTORY   OF   FRENCH   LITERATURE 

Nouvelle  Helo'ise.  D'Holbach  was  a  collaborator  of  the 
Encyclopedie,  and  wrote  a  book,  Le  Systeme  de  la  Nature  ou 
des  Lois  du  monde  physique  et  du  monde  moral,  directed 
chiefly  against  the  idea  of  God.  He  was  the  father  of  all 
the  philosophy  and  of  all  the  antireligious  polemics  of  the 
eighteenth  century.  D'Holbach  gave  two  dinners  a  week, 
and,  because  of  the  good  cheer  always  in  evidence  in  his  house, 
he  received  from  the  Abbe  Galiani  the  cognomen  of  "  First 
Steward  of  Philosophy." 

Claude  Adrien  Helvetius  wrote  a  book  entitled  De  I'esprit, 
which  was  a  manual  of  materialistic  philosophy,  and,  accord- 
ing to  Madame  du  Deffand, ' '  told  the  secret  of  the  world. ' '  In 
this  book  man  is  reduced  to  the  level  of  the  brute,  so  that  even 
Voltaire  was  terrified,  and  disavowed  these  doctrines.  Julien 
de  La  Mettrie,1  a  physician,  surpassed  the  materialistic  teach- 
ings of  d'Holbach  and  Helvetius,  in  his  works  L'Homme 
machine  and  L'Homme  plante.  Frederick  the  Great  called 
him  to  the  Royal  Academy  at  Berlin.  He  was  very  rich  and 
very  charitable,  paying  pensions  to  many  poor  literary  men — 
in  particular  to  Marivaux.  Being  reproached  for  frequently 
assisting  unworthy  persons,  he  replied:  "  If  I  were  king,  I 
would  correct  them.  As  I  am  only  rich,  I  must  assist  them. ' ' 

Madame  Helvetius,  a  beautiful,  witty,  and  very  charitable 
woman,  continued  her  salon  at  her  house  in  Auteuil  after  her 
husband's  death.  The  great  celebrities  of  the  day,  among 
them  Benjamin  Franklin  during  his  stay  in  Paris,  frequented 
this  salon  which  became  the  first  Society  of  Auteuil. 

The  last  salon  of  this  century  was  that  of  Madame  Necker, 
a  Swiss  lady,  the  mother  of  Madame  de  Stael,  and  at  one  time 
engaged  to  marry  the  famous  English  historian,  Gibbon.  The 
frequenters  of  this  salon  included  Marmontel,  Diderot,  Buffon, 
and  La  Harpe.  Madame  Necker  was  very  charitable;  she 
founded  the  Hopital  Necker,  which  she  administered  during 
ten  years. 

Finally,  in  this  brief  catalogue  of  the  brilliant  women  of 
the  salons,  was  Madame  Roland — Jeanne  Manon  Phlipon  Ro- 
land de  la  Platiere,  daughter  of  an  engraver — a  woman  of  high 

1  Adolph  Menzel  put  La  Mettrie  in  his  celebrated  painting  of  Fred- 
erick's round  table — on  which  were  served  the  famous  suppers  of  "  Sans- 
Souci." 

284 


THE    EIGHTEENTH,    OR    PHILOSOPHIC,    CENTURY 

intelligence  and  great  goodness,  with  a  passion  for  literature 
and  arts.  The  reading  of  Rousseau's  works  greatly  influenced 
her  imagination.  A  republican  and  stoic,  the  political  in- 
fluence of  her  celebrated  salon  was  considerable.  There  the 
Girondins  were  most  frequently  seen;  she  was  almost  the 
muse  of  the  party.  "When  her  husband,  M.  Roland  de  la 
Platiere,  an  estimable  economist,  was  called  to  the  Legislative 
Assembly,  and  then  to  the  Ministry  of  the  Interior  with  the 
Girondin  party,  Madame  Roland  became  his  secretary,  or, 
rather,  his  inspiration.  The  majority  of  the  reports  and  circu- 
lars which  he  signed  were  written  by  her — among  others,  a  very 
vivacious  letter  addressed  to  Louis  XVI,  which  caused  a  great 
stir  and  brought  about  the  fall  of  the  ministry.  It  was  at  her 
home  also  that  the  Girondins  met  to  draw  up  their  resolutions. 
When  the  party  was  proscribed  on  May  31,  1793,  Roland  suc- 
ceeded in  escaping,  but  his  wife  was  arrested.  It  was  during 
the  enforced  leisure  of  prison  life  that  she  began  to  trace  in 
her  Memoires  the  story  of  her  childhood  and  her  youth,  with 
as  much  serenity  as  if  she  were  not  on  the  eve  of  death  upon 
the  scaffold.  When  she  perceived  that  she  would  not  have 
time  to  recount  everything  with  minute  detail,  she  contented 
herself  with  drawing  the  portraits  of  the  principal  politicians 
whom  she  had  known,  and  with  depicting  the  revolutionary 
scenes  in  which  she  had  been  thrown.  It  was  all  written  in  a 
firm  style,  without  hesitation  or  weakness.  The  letters  to 
Buzot,  also  written  in  prison,  are  of  an  admirable  lyric  elo- 
quence. She  went  to  the  scaffold  all  undaunted,  saying  only 
these  few  words  of  farewell  which  posterity  has  cherished: 
"  0  Liberty,  what  crimes  are  committed  in  thy  name!  " 
Her  husband,  who  was  at  Rouen,  killed  himself  on  hearing  of 
his  wife's  death.  Madame  Roland  remains  one  of  the  dis- 
tinguished personalities  and  intellects  of  the  eighteenth 
century. 


VOLTAIRE 

THE  most  brilliant,  influential,  and  infinitely  versatile  of 
all  the  French  writers  was  Voltaire,  whose  real  name  was 
Frangois-Marie  Arouet,  born  at  Paris  in  1694.  He  was  the 
very  personification  of  the  French  mind  and  although  not  a 
professed  philosopher,  he  acted  more  powerfully  on  the  trend 
of  thought  of  his  epoch  than  any  of  the  philosophers.  Vol- 
taire studied  with  the  Jesuits  at  the  Louis  le  Grand  College; 
his  professors  predicted  that  he  would  some  day  be  the  high- 
est authority  of  theism.  He  frequented  at  an  early  age  the 
society  that  was  the  most  brilliant,  as  it  was  also  the  most 
licentious  in  Paris— the  society  of  the  Due  de  Sully,  the 
Prince  de  Conti,  the  Due  de  Vendome,  the  Marquis  de  la 
Fare,  the  Abbe  de  Chaulieu.  He  was  introduced  to  it  by  the 
Abbe  de  Chateauneuf,  his  godfather,  and  the  friend  of  Ninon 
de  L'Enclos.  The  Abbe  had  presented  him  to  her  when  Vol- 
taire was  only  a  child  of  thirteen,  and  Ninon  was  eighty-five 
years  old ;  at  her  death  she  left  the  boy  two  thousand  francs 
with  which  to  buy  books. 

Anne — called  Ninon — de  L'Enclos  was  born  at  Paris  of 
noble  parents.  Her  mother  wished  to  make  her  a  nun;  her 
father,  a  man  of  intelligence  and  given  to  pleasure,  succeeded 
in  making  her  an  Epicurean.  Ninon  lost  her  parents  at  the 
age  of  fifteen  years,  and  practically  educated  herself.  She 
was  celebrated  for  her  intelligence,  her  wit,  her  philosophy, 
her  music,  her  dancing,  and  singing.  Flighty  in  love,  constant 
in  friendship,  scrupulously  honest  in  her  worldly  relations, 
of  an  even  temperament,  charming  deportment,  faithful  in 
character,  suited  both  to  lead  young  people  and  to  fascinate 
them,  intellectual  without  being  precieuse,  and — besides  all 
this — very  beautiful,  she  ' '  thought  in  the  manner  of  Socrates 
and  acted  like  Lai's."  Her  reputation  for  inconstancy  and 

286 


gallantry  did  not  prevent  her  from  having  illustrious  friends. 
The  Coligni,  the  Villarceaux,  the  Sevigne  families,  the  great 
Conde,  and  many  others — all  admired  her.  Moreover,  she 
was  sought  after  by  the  most  lovable  and  respectable  women 
of  her  time.  Madame  de  Maintenon  wanted  her  to  become 
a  nun,  and  repair  to  Versailles  in  order  to  console  her  for 
the  tedium  of  its  grandeur  and  her  old  age;  but  Ninon 
preferred  her  voluptuous  obscurity  to  brilliant  slavery.  Her 
home  was  the  rendezvous  of  the  most  polished  circle  of  the 
court  and  city,  and  the  most  illustrious  personages  of  the  re- 
public of  letters.  Scarron  consulted  her  about  his  novels, 
Saint-Evremond  on  his  verses,  Moliere  on  his  comedies,  Fon- 
tenelle  on  his  Dialogues.  At  the  age  of  eighty  years  she  had 
not  lost  the  art  of  inspiring  love,  and  she  died  at  ninety. 
She  left  two  children,  one  of  whom  died  a  naval  officer.  The 
other  son,  not  knowing  that  she  was  his  mother,  fell  in  love 
with  her;  but  when  he  discovered  the  secret  of  his  birth,  he 
stabbed  himself  in  despair. 

Voltaire,  in  a  letter  about  Ninon  de  L  'Enclos,  wrote : 

I  shall  first  tell  you,  as  an  accurate  historiographer,  that  the  Car- 
dinal de  Richelieu  was  her  first  admirer.  A  quarrel  between  two  of 
her  lovers  was  the  cause  of  a  suggestion  to  the  queen  that  she  be  sent 
to  a  convent.  Ninon  answered  that  she  was  perfectly  willing  pro- 
vided it  was  a  convent  of  Franciscan  friars.  When  told  that  her 
place  would  be  at  the  Filles  Repenties  (Home  for  Repentant  Girls),  she 
protested  that  she  was  neither  fitte  (maiden)  nor  repentant.  Ninon 
had  too  many  friends  and  her  company  was  too  agreeable  for  such 
punitive  measures  to  prevail,  and  finally  the  queen  let  her  live  as 
she  wished.  Huyghens,  the  Dutch  philosopher,  who  discovered  the 
first  satellite  of  Saturn  while  in  France,  was  among  those  in  love 
with  her.  She  soon  developed  a  philosophical  turn  of  mind,  and  they 
gave  her  the  name  of  the  modern  Leontium.  Her  philosophy  was 
veritable,  firm,  invariable;  and  above  prejudice  and  frivolous  research. 
Saint-Evremond  wrote  beneath  her  picture  the  best  known  of  all  his 
verses : 

L'indulgente  et  sage  nature 
A  forme"  1'ame  de  Ninon 

De  la  volupte  d 'Epicure 
Et  de  la  vertu  de  Caton.1 

1  Indulgent  and  wise  nature  has  formed  Ninon's  soul  with  the  voluptu- 
ousness of  Epicurus  and  the  virtue  of  Cato. 

287 


THE    HISTORY   OP    FRENCH   LITERATURE 

The  grace  of  her  intellect  and  the  soundness  of  her  sentiment  lent 
her  such  a  reputation  that  when  Queen  Christina  came  to  France,  in 
1654,  she  paid  her  the  honor  of  going  to  see  her  in  a  little  country- 
house  where  Ninon  lived  at  the  time.  Ninon's  home  was  indeed  a 
kind  of  little  Hotel  de  Rambouillet,  only  the  people  of  her  circle 
spoke  more  naturally  and  were  more  interested  in  philosophy.  Mothers 
took  pains  to  intrust  her  with  the  tuition  of  young  people  who  wished 
to  enter  society  with  approval;  and  it  was  her  pleasure  to  educate 
them.  When  Ninon  was  told  that  Remond,  the  introducer  of  am- 
bassadors, boasted  everywhere  of  having  been  trained  by  her,  she 
answered  that,  "like  the  Creator,  she  repented  having  made  the  man," 
and  added: 

De  Monsieur  Remond  voici  le  portrait . 

II  a  tout-a-fait  1'air  d'un  hareng  soret; 

II  rime,  il  cabale; 

Est  homme  de  cour, 

Se  croit  un  Candale,1 

Se  dit  un  Saucour.' 

II  passe  en  Science 

Socrate  et  Platon; 

Ce  pendant  il  danse 

Tout  comme  Ballon.* 

De  Monsieur  Re"mond  voici  le  portrait; 

II  a  tout-a-fait  1'air  d'un  hareng  soret.  • 

Voltaire  concludes  his  letter  thus:  "  Say  with  me  a  little 
De  Profundis  for  her." 

Voltaire  wrote  verses  early  in  life.  His  father,  treasurer 
of  the  Chamber  of  Accounts,  had  destined  him  for  the  magis- 
tracy, and,  horrified  at  seeing  him  occupied  with  tragedy,  sent 
him  to  the  Marquis  of  Chateauneuf,  French  ambassador  to 

1  The  Due  de  Candale,  son  of  the  Due  d'Epernon,  the  handsomest  man 
of  his  time. 

z  The  Marquis  de  Saucour  passed  for  the  most  rigorous  man  of  his  day, 
and  his  fame  became  proverbial. 

1 A  noted  dancer. 

'This  is  the  portrait  of  Monsieur  Remond:  he  has  quite  the  air  of  a 
smoked  herring.  He  rhymes,  he  plots;  a  courtier,  he  thinks  himself  a 
Candale,  he  calls  himself  a  Saucour.  He  surpasses  Socrates  and  Plato  in 
science;  meanwhile  he  dances  like  Ballon.  This  is  the  portrait  of  Monsieur 
Remond;  he  has  quite  the  air  of  a  smoked  herring. 

288 


VOLTAIRE 

Holland,  intending  that  he  should  enter  a  solicitor's  office  on 
his  return  home.  Voltaire  did  not  stay  long,  but  he  soon  knew 
more  serious  and  more  salutary  disgrace;  he  was  falsely  ac- 
cused of  being  the  author  of  a  satire  against  Louis  XIV,  which 
ended  with  this  verse: 

J'ai  vu  ces  maux,  et  je  n'ai  pas  vingt  ans. ' 

Voltaire  was  then  almost  twenty ;  this  seemed  to  the  police 
sufficient  proof  of  his  guilt,  and  he  was  shut  up  in  the  Bastille. 
The  regent,  the  Due  d 'Orleans,  aware  of  his  innocence,  set 
him  free  and  gave  him  a  gratuity.  It  was  upon  his  release 
from  the  Bastile  that  his  tragedy,  (Edipe,  was  played  in 
1718.  According  to  some  authorities,  he  then  took  the  name 
of  Voltaire  from  a  little  family  estate  belonging  to  his  mother, 
Marie  Catherine  Daumard,  a  noblewoman  from  Poitou;  he 
took  it  in  conformity  with  the  usage  then  general  among  the 
bourgeoisie.2  Voltaire  was  sent  a  second  time  to  the  Bastille 
— a  victim  not  only  of  the  arbitrary  will  of  the  government, 
but  of  the  cowardice  of  a  great  lord.  The  Chevalier  de  Rohan- 
Chabot,  while  dining  one  day  at  the  home  of  the  Due  de  Sully, 
and  being  displeased  that  Voltaire  was  not  of  his  opinion, 
said:  "  Who  is  that  little  gentleman  who  talks  so  loud?  " 
"  He  is  a  man,"  answered  Voltaire,  "  who  does  not  bear  a 
great  name,  but  who  honors  the  one  he  does  bear."  The 
Chevalier  de  Rohan,  greatly  irritated,  left  the  table.  A  few 
days  afterwards,  Voltaire,  being  again  at  dinner  with  the  Due 
de  Sully,  was  waylaid  by  the  Chevalier's  men  who  struck  him 
over  the  shoulders  repeatedly  with  a  stick.  Voltaire  took 
fencing  lessons,  and  then  insulted  the  Chevalier,  who  accepted 
the  challenge  and  fixed  the  rendezvous ;  but  instead  of  appear- 
ing there,  he  had  Voltaire  arrested,  and  confined  in  the 
Bastille.  Voltaire  stayed  there  only  two  weeks;  but  he  was 
given  his  freedom  only  on  condition  that  he  should  go  to 
England  where  he  remained  three  years  until  1729.  England 
gave  him  a  warm  welcome.  The  guest  of  Lord  Bolingbroke,* 

1 1  have  seen  these  ills,  and  I  am  not  twenty. 

*  Other  authorities  say  that  he  derived  "  Voltaire "  from  an  anagram 
(Arouet  1  (e)  (j)  eune),  after  his  release  from  the  Bastille. 

3  Voltaire  had  known  him  in  France,  at  the  time  of  Bolingbroke's  brief 
service  in  the  cause  of  the  Pretender. 
20  289 


THE    HISTORY   OF    FRENCH   LITERATURE 

of  Lord  Peterborough,  and  of  the  rich  merchant  Falkener, 
he  made  friends  with  Clarke,  Gay,  Pope,  Swift,  Congreve,  and 
Johnson.  He  came  to  know  English  literature  and  English 
conditions;  to  perceive  the  high  esteem  in  which  writers  were 
held;  to  appreciate  the  value  of  religious  freedom,  of  justice, 
and  of  the  courts.  It  was  in  England  that  he  developed  and 
enriched  his  literary  genius.  He  read  ' '  Paradise  Lost  " ;  he 
was  inspired  by  the  dramatic  masterpieces  of  Shakespeare; 
he  studied  the  philosophy  of  Bacon  and  of  Locke,  and  ac- 
quainted himself  with  the  scientific  discoveries  of  Newton ;  he 
witnessed  the  spectacle  of  liberty  developing  in  every  direction 
— not  only  in  books,  but  in  the  theater  and  the  pulpit,  in  the 
newspapers  and  in  the  courts  of  law.  This  sojourn  in  England 
was  of  vital  importance  in  the  life  of  Voltaire.  English  litera- 
ture during  the  time  of  the  Stuarts  was  confined  to  an  imita- 
tion of  the  French;  but  from  1688,  under  the  influence  of 
\  Locke,  there  was  a  change,  and  it  is  to  England  that  we  must 
look  for  the  origin  of  the  French  philosophical  impulse  of  the 
eighteenth  century.  From  England  Montesquieu  brought  his 
politics,  Condillac  his  philosophy  of  sensualism,  Voltaire  his 
philosophical  ideas  and  his  innovations  for  the  theater.  Vol- 
taire's enthusiasm  for  these  scientific  and  literary  marvels, 
and  his  admiration  for  this  country  of  tolerance  and  liberty, 
exercised  a  lasting  influence.  "  There  is  almost  no  work  of 
Voltaire,"  says  M.  Villemain,  "  in  which  the  mark  of  these 
three  years  in  London  cannot  be  found."  It  was  there  that 
Voltaire  published  a  new  edition  of  La  Ligue,  under  the  new 
title  of  La  Henriade — a  poem  "  which  breathes  throughout 
his  tolerance  and  his  love  of  humanity,  his  hatred  of  war  and 
fanaticism. ' ' 1 

On  returning  to  France,  Voltaire  found  again  the  same 
arbitrary  government  and  the  persecutions  inspired  by  re- 
ligious intolerance.  The  tragedy  of  La  Mort  de  Cesar  could 
not  be  printed  because  the  author  voiced  republican  senti- 
ments in  the  work ;  and  his  elegy  on  the  death  of  Mademoiselle 

1  The  subject  of  La  Henriade,  to  quote  Voltaire  himself,  is  "the  siege  of 
Paris,  begun  by  Henri  de  Valois  and  Henri  le  Grand,  and  completed  by  the 
latter  alone.  The  scene  is  laid  no  farther  than  from  Paris  to  Ivry,  where 
was  fought  the  famous  battle  which  decided  the  fate  of  France  and  the 
royal  house." 

290 


VOLTAIRE 

Lecouvreur,  the  celebrated  actress,  in  which  he  opposed  the 
prejudice  that  deprived  actors  of  Christian  burial,  drew  upon 
him  a  persecution  that  forced  him  to  leave  the  capital  and 
seek  refuge  at  Rouen.  This  elegy  reads : 

Ah!  verrai-je  toujours  ma  faible  nation, 

Incertaine  en  ses  vceux,  fletrir  ce  qu'elle  admire; 

Nos  moeurs  avec  nos  lois  toujours  se  contredire, 

Et  le  Fran<jais  volage  endormi  sous  1'empire 

De  la  superstition? 

Quoi!  n'est-ce  done  qu'en  Angleterre 

Que  les  mortels  osent  penser?  1 

tS 

At   Rouen   Voltaire   secretly   published   his    Histoire   de 

Charles  XII,  and  his  Lettres  Philosophiques  sur  les  Anglais, 
wherein  he  undertook  to  make  France  understand  England — 
its  religion,  sects,  government ;  its  philosophy  as  expounded  by 
Shakespeare,  Pope,  Swift,  and  the  rest.  The  Lettres  Philoso- 
phiques  were  suppressed  by  a  decree  of  the  Council.  The 
"  Parliament  "  ordered  the  book  to  be  burned  by  the  hang- 
man and  the  keeper  of  the  seals  proscribed  the  author,  who, 
warned  in  time,  went  into  exile  once  more  until  he  obtained 
permission  to  return  to  Paris.  He  withdrew  into  Lorraine, 
to  the  chateau  of  Cirey,  with  his  friend  the  Marquise  du 
Chalet  (1735).  The  Marquise  was  of  a  serious  mind,  and 
of  great  charm  and  intelligence;  during  the  fifteen  years  of  / 
her  influence  she  inspired  him  .to  his  best  works:  Alzire, 
Mahomet,  Merope,  Semiramis,  lf Enfant  prodigue,  Bdbouc, 
Micromegas,  and  Zadig.  It  was  in  this  retirement  that  he 
composed  the  Elements  de  la  Philosophic  de  Newton.  This 
work,  in  the  course  of  a  few  years,  dethroned  the  official 
philosophers  of  France  and  Germany,  Descartes  and  Leibnitz. 
The  publication  of  the  Epttre  a  Madame  du  Chdtelet  on  the 
philosophy  of  Newton  raised  a  new  storm.  There  is  some  dif- 
ficulty in  explaining  this  when  we  read  these  verses : 


1  Ah!  shall  I  always  see  my  weak  nation,  uncertain  in  her  wishes,  con- 
demn what  she  admires;  our  customs  always  at  odds  with  our  laws,  and 
the  volatile  French  asleep  under  the  empire  of  superstition?  What!  IB 
it,  then,  but  in  England  that  mortals  dare  think? 

291 


THE    HISTORY   OF   FRENCH   LITERATURE 

Dieu  parle  et  le  chaos  se  dissipe  a  sa  voix : 

Vers  un  centre  commun  tout  gravit  a  la  fois; 

Ce  ressort  si  puissant,  Tame  de  la  nature, 

Etait  enseveli  dans  une  nuit  obscure ; 

Le  compas  de  Newton,  mesurant  1'univers, 

Leve  enfin  ce  grand  voile,  et  les  cieux  sont  ou verts; 

II  deploie  a  mes  yeux,  par  une  main  savante, 

De  1'astre  des  saisons  la  robe  etincelante: 

L'emeraude,  1'azur,  le  pourpre,  le  rubis, 

Sont  rimmortel  tissu  dont  brillent  ses  habits. 

Chacun  de  ses  rayons  dans  sa  substance  pure, 

Porte  en  soi  les  couleurs  dont  se  peint  la  nature ; 

Et,  conf ondus  ensemble,  ils  eclairent  nos  yeux ; 

Us  animent  le  monde,  ils  emplissent  les  cieux; 

Confidents  du  Tres-Haut,  substances  eternelles, 

Qui  brulez  de  ses  feux,  qui  couvrez  de  vos  ailes 

Le  trone  ou  votre  maitre  est  assis  parmi  vous, 

Parlez :  du  grand  Newton  n'etiez  vous  point  jaloux?  ' 

In  Candide,  ou  I'optimisme,  his  most  important  philosoph- 
ical novel,  Voltaire  made  sport  of  the  famous  maxim  of  the 
optimist  Leibnitz:  "  Everything  is  for  the  best  in  the  best 
of  possible  worlds."  The  tragedy  Mahomet  was  staged  at 
Lille;  but  Cardinal  de  Fleury  opposed  its  representation  at 
Paris.  Voltaire  dedicated  his  play  to  Pope  Benedict  XIV, 
who  received  it  favorably  and  sent  his  blessing  to  the  poet. 

\  In  this  same  retirement,  Voltaire  finished  his  Discours  sur 
I'Homme,  which  is  considered  one  of  the  most  beautiful  mon- 
uments of  French  poetry.  He  composed  also  the  Histoire 

\     de  Charles  XII  which  to  this  day  is  very  popular.     It  reads 

1  God  speaks  and  chaos  dissolves  at  His  voice:  all  gravitates  at  once 
toward  a  common  center.  This  powerful  spring,  the  soul  of  Nature,  was 
engulfed  in  night  obscure.  The  compass  of  Newton,  measuring  the  uni- 
verse, at  last  raises  this  great  curtain,  and  the  heavens  are  opened;  there 
spreads  before  my  eyes,  by  a  wise  hand,  the  sparkling  robe  of  the  orb  of 
the  seasons;  emerald,  azure,  purple,  ruby,  are  the  immortal  tissue  of  its 
brilliant  garments.  Each  ray  in  its  pure  substance  carries  the  colors  with 
which  Nature  paints  herself;  mingled  together  they  give  light  to  our  eyes, 
they  animate  the  world,  they  fill  the  heavens.  Confidants  of  the  Most 
High,  eternal  substances,  that  burn  with  His  fires,  that  cover  with  your 
wings  the  throne  upon  which  your  master  is  seated  among  you,  speak: 
Were  you  not  jealous  of  the  great  Newton? 

292 


VOLTAIRE 

more  like  a  richly  colored  novel  of  adventure  than  a  strictly 
truthful  history  of  the  life  of  Charles,  although  written  with 
a  strict  regard  to  facts.  Its  portrayal  is  fascinating,  and  the 
political  views  of  the  author  are  penetrating,  making  it  a 
model  of  historical  narrative,  just  as  his  Siecle  de  Louis  XIV 
is  a  model  of  political  history,  and  his  Essai  sur  les  moeurs, 
of  philosophical  history. 

It  was  at  this  time  that  Voltaire  entered  into  relations 
with  the  Prince  Royal  of  Prussia,  and  kept  up  with  him  a 
curious  correspondence.  This  connection  with  Frederick  pro- 
cured for  him  a  diplomatic  mission  to  the  court  of  the  King 
of  Prussia.  The  pretext  which  he  made,  in  order  to  conceal 
the  purpose  of  his  journey,  was  his  desire  to  escape  the  per- 
secutions which  Boyer  had  incited  against  him.  When  Boyer 
complained  to  the  king  that  Voltaire  made  him  appear  as  a 
fool,  the  king  answered,  ' '  That  is  a  settled  fact. ' ' 

On  his  return  to  Paris,  Voltaire  was  elected  a  member  of 
the  Academy,  but  his  enemies  again  succeeded  in  driving  him 
away.  He  left  Paris  anew  for  Cirey,  whence  he  betook  himself 
to  the  court  of  Stanislas  Leczinski,  father-in-law  of  Louis 
XV.  who  had  summoned  him.  After  passing  some  time  at 
Sceaux  with  the  Duchesse  du  Maine,  he  went  to  Berlin  to  be 
with  Frederick,  the  Salomon  du  Nord,  as  Voltaire  named 
him,1  who  received  him  in  Potsdam  not  as  a  poet,  but  as  a 
king.  He  was  given  a  splendid  apartment  in  the  palace,  a 
sumptuous  table  and  fine  equipages,  and  he  received  the  title 
of  chamberlain  and  a  pension  of  twenty  thousand  francs. 
In  return  the  poet  corrected  the  king's  verses,  and  delighted 
him  at  supper  by  the  grace  and  prolificness  of  his  wit  and 
intellect.  Such  men  as  Maupertuis,  La  Baumelle,  La  Mettrie, 
le  marquis  d  'Argens,  were  gathered  at  the  round  table  of  the 
famous  suppers  of  Frederick,  under  whose  presidency  morals, 
philosophy,  and  history  were  discussed.  The  first  days  were 
full  of  enchantment  for  Voltaire:  "  One  hundred  and  fifty 
thousand  victorious  soldiers,  no  lawyers,  opera,  comedy,  phi- 
losophy, poetry,  a  hero  philosopher  and  poet,  grandeur  and 
graces,  grenadiers  and  muses,  trumpets  and  violins,  repasts 
of  Plato,  society  and  liberty;  who  would  believe  it?  It  is 

1  He  called  Catherine  of  Russia  "Semiramis." 
293 


THE    HISTORY   OF    FRENCH   LITERATURE 

all  true."  For  Voltaire  this  was  the  Palace  of  Alcina;  but 
the  enchantment  was  brief.  Maupertuis,  the  life  president 
of  the  Academy  of  Berlin,  who  was  jealous  of  this  French 
genius,  and  had  become  his  enemy,  set  to  work  to  embroil 
the  king  and  the  philosopher.  Voltaire,  in  turn,  pilloried 
him  in  his  Diatribe  du  Docteur  Akakia,  medecin  du  Pape; 
but  Frederick,  having  caused  the  pamphlet  to  be  burned  by 
the  hand  of  the  executioner,  Voltaire,  outraged,  sent  back  to 
the  king  his  cross,  his  key,  and  the  certificate  of  his  pension, 
and  requested  permission  to  depart,  which  he  finally  obtained, 
promising  the  king  that  he  would  return.  At  Frankfort  he 
found  an  agent  of  Frederick  who  had  been  ordered  to  recover 
the  collection  of  the  king's  poetic  works,  which  Voltaire  was 
supposed  to  have  taken  away  with  him;  and  this  emissary 
kept  him  closely  guarded  in  a  tavern,  for  three  weeks,  until 
he  should  restore  the  precious  package  which,  as  a  matter  of 
fact,  he  had  left  behind  him  in  his  bags.  Later  an  amicable 
correspondence  was  reestablished  between  the  king  and  the 
philosopher;  and  it  was  the  former  who  made  the  first  ad- 
vances. Voltaire's  fame,  contested  up.  to  the  time  of  his  in- 
timacy with  the  King  of  Prussia,  soon  equalled  a  sovereign's 
after  his  return  to  France. 

Voltaire  had  several  homes — one,  on  Genevan  territory, 
a  winter  house  at  Montrion,  near  Ouchy;  a  mansion  at  Lau- 
sanne, rue  du  Grand- Chene,  and,  finally,  two  estates  in 
France,  in  the  immediate  neighborhood  of  the  frontier  of 
Geneva,  one  at  Tournay,  the  other — a  quasi-royal  residence— 
at  Ferney.  "  All  these  dwellings,"  he  wrote  to  d'Alembert, 
"  are  necessary  for  me.  I  am  delighted  with  passing  freely 
from  one  frontier  to  the  other;  were  I  only  French,  I  would 
depend  too  much  on  France.  As  it  is,  I  have  an  odd  little 
kingdom  in  a  Swiss  valley.  I  am  like  the  Old  Man  of  the 
Mountain :  with  my  four  estates  I  am,  so  to  speak,  on  my  four 
paws.  Montrion  is  my  little  cabin,  my  winter  palace  and  shel- 
ter from  the  cruel  north  wind.  Then  I  have  arranged  a  house 
at  Lausanne ;  it  might  be  called  the  Italian  palace.  Judge  of 
it:  fifteen  windows  look  out  on  the  lake— on  the  right,  on  the 
left,  and  in  front;  a  hundred  gardens  are  below  my  garden, 
bathed  in  the  blue  mirror  of  the  lake.  I  see  all  Savoy  across 
this  little  sea,  and,  beyond  Savoy,  the  Alps  rising  in  an  am- 

294 


VOLTAIRE 

phitheater  on  which  the  sun 's  rays  form  a  thousand  effects  of 
light  ...  I  should  like  to  keep  you  in  this  delicious  place. 
There  is  no  more  beautiful  aspect  in  the  world;  the  Point 
of  the  Seraglio  in  Constantinople  has  no  lovelier  view. "  When 
Voltaire  went  to  install  himself  in  his  chateau  of  Les  Delices, 
he  expressed  the  sentiments  which  this  sojourn  inspired  in 
him,  in  a  poem  which  is  a  sort  of  hymn  to  Liberty,  and  is  cer- 
tainly one  of  the  most  beautiful  that  came  from  his  pen.  After 
living  for  some  time  in  Les  Delices,  Voltaire  settled  definitely 
at  Ferney  in  1758,  and  it  is  there  that  he  passed  the  last 
twenty  years  of  his  life.  His  intellectual  influence  was  enor- 
mous :  Ferney  was  the  literary  capital  of  Europe  during  the  , 
twenty  years  of  his  sojourn  there.  He  developed  a  great 
energy:  he  corresponded  with  all  the  crowned  heads  of  Eu- 
rope, with  ministers  and  with  the  learned,  and  made  himself 
felt  as  philosopher,  poet,  historian,  and  defender  <3f  the  op- 
pressed. All  the  world  wished  to  see  this  king  of  literature : 
philosophers,  actors,  princes  and  peasants,  priests  and  lay- 
men, came  hither  to  look  upon  the  man  who  made  the  world 
think  as  well  as  laugh * — who  had  more  wit,  it  is  said,  than  all 
the  people  put  together.  There  are  several  distinct  periods 
in  Voltaire's  life:  in  his  youth  he  was  a  bel-esprit,  occu- 
pied with  the  theater  and  light  poetry;  during  his  sojourn 
at  the  Chateau  de  Cirey  he  turned  to  serious  subjects,  includ- 
ing science ;  his  life  with  King  Frederick  of  Prussia  crowned 
his  celebrity;  and  at  Ferney,  Voltaire,  all  powerful,  was 
himself  a  king;  he  made  his  influence  felt  throughout  the 
Continent.  When  he  died,  Collin  d'Harleville  said:  "Now 
we  shall  again  have  a  republic  of  literary  men." 

The  years  which  he  passed  in  his  retreat  at  Ferney  were 
extremely  fruitful.     His  prolific  mind  produced  a  quantity 
of  poems  of  the  most  varied  types — satires,  epistles,  tales, 
epigrams,    commentaries,    sparkling    philosophic    narratives,  \ 
numerous  works  of  religious  polemics,  the  Dictionnaire  Phi- 
losophique,  a  number  of  pamphlets  directed  against  his  ene- 
mies— the  enemies  of  liberty  of  thought  and  tolerance.     At  , 
the  same  time  Voltaire  kept  up  an  immense  correspondence, 

1  The  temple  of  philosophy  at  Ermenonville  has  a  column  of  Voltaire 
with  the  inscription:  "  Voltaire  ridicidum." 

295 


THE    HISTORY   OF    FRENCH   LITERATURE 

and  animated  with  his  spirit  the  Encyclopedic  which  d'Alem- 
bert  and  Diderot  were  compiling.  In  this  correspondence 
we  find  reflected  the  whole  literary  economic  and  moral  life 
of  his  age.  Of  his  letters,1  more  than  twelve  thousand,  ad- 
dressed to  seven  hundred  correspondents,  and  embracing  a 
period  of  sixty  years  have  been  preserved;  and  these  letters, 
admirably  composed,  with  good  sense,  elegance,  and  facility, 
make  of  Voltaire  one  of  the  greatest  of  French  prose  writers. 
In  1737,  he  wrote  the  Conseils  a  un  Journaliste,  a  golden  book 
of  instruction  for  editors  and  critics.  One  critic  who  has 
called  him  the  "  Journalist  of  all  times,"  remarks  that  his 
works  if  written  in  our  own  days  would  appear  in  the  form 
of  brilliant  leading  articles  or  colloquial  essays.  As  a  matter 
of  fact,  Voltaire  as  a  writer  is  universal ;  his  output  embraces 
all  forms  of  literature :  lyric,  epic,  dramatic,  poems,  the  novel, 
philosophical  and  critical  essays,  and  historical  narrations. 
In  his  tragedies,  of  which  there  are  twenty-eight,  he  widened 
the  field  by  introducing  romantic  and  national  subjects,  and 
by  picturing  scenes  not  only  in  Greece  and  Rome,  but  in 
America,  Palestine,  and  China.  He  adhered  to  the  "  three 
unities  "  of  classic  tradition,  but  swept  aside  theatrical  con- 
ventions by  causing  the  actors  to  discard  their  large  hats 
with  sweeping  plumes,  their  knee  breeches,  silk  stockings,  and 
buckled  gaiters,  for  costumes  appropriate  to  their  parts.  In 
the  seventeenth  century,  romantic  love  and  ambition  were  the 
principal  themes  of  tragedy.  Voltaire  enlarged  this  meager 
repertory  of  motive  by  making,  in  Zulime,  Semiramis,  Brutus, 
I'Orphelin  de  la  Chine,  and  Merope,  a  study  of  parental 
affection;  a  portrayal  of  Christian  sentiment  in  Alzire  and 
Zaire;  and  a  picture  of  chivalrous  emotion  in  Tancrede.  As 
an  historian  he  likewise  explored  a  new  field.  With  Voltaire, 
history  became  narrative,  literary  and  philosophical.  To 
historical  narrative,  he  declared,  belonged  not  only  the  record 
of  exterior  circumstances,  but  that  account  of  the  human 
mind  which  exhibits  man  in  his  ascent  from  the  barbaric 
state.  Voltaire  was  thus  the  first  historian  who  recognized 
that  the  history  of  civilization  was  an  authorized  factor  in  the 

1  The  most  complete  collection  is  to  be  found  in  Moland's  edition,  vols. 
xxxiii-xlix. 

296 


VOLTAIRE 

historical  narrative.  In  all  these  diverse  forms  of  literature, 
Voltaire  pursued  the  same  aim.  Like  the  Abbe  de  Saint-  ,, 
Pierre,  "He  understood  the  necessity  of  always  repeating 
the  same  things  in  order  to  impress  them  on  men's  minds. 
But  he  knew  what  the  good  abbe  was  ignorant  of — how  es- 
sential it  is  to  vary  the  form;  and  no  one  has  so  greatly 
excelled  in  this  art."  His  end  was  none  other  than  to  free  *' 
humanity  from  the  yoke  of  superstition  and  fanaticism. 
Swept  on  by  his  ardor,  and  irritated  by  the  persecutions  to 
which  he  exposed  himself,  he  often  violated  his  purpose;  but 
he  attained  it,  too,  and,  in  spite  of  his  errors,  or  his  excesses, 
his  name  must  be  inscribed  among  the  benefactors  of  humanity. 
His  letters  in  verse  and  in  prose  scintillate  with  wit  and 
malice ;  they  bring  before  us  the  daily  life  of  this  man,  whose 
prodigious  activity,  extending  to  everything,  made  him  the 
self-appointed  righter  of  all  iniquities,  and  compelled  the  re- 
form of  the  criminal  procedures  in  law  when  these  seemed  to 
him  to  be  tainted  with  injustice. 

The  private  life  of  Voltaire  bears  witness  to  great  benefi- 
cence. He  made  admirable  use  of  his  fortune,  and  his  bene- 
factions were  distinguished  by  nobility  and  delicacy.  "  We 
may  count  Voltaire,"  said  Condorcet,  "  among  the  very  few  \s 
men  in  whom  the  love  of  humanity  is  a  veritable  passion." 
But,  writes  a  French  critic :  ' '  not  even  Condorcet  could  quite 
condone  the  palpable  faults  of  Voltaire,  who  completely 
lacked  that  cleanness  of  language  and  habits  without  which 
man  always  lowers  himself — without  which  there  is  neither 
dignity  nor  true  happiness  for  woman.  This  was  a  fault  of 
the  age — an  age  of  reaction  against  the  monastic  rigor  of 
an  ascetic  Christianity,  and  against  the  hypocrisy  of  the 
court  of  Louis  XIV.  It  was  not  sufficiently  understood  in 
the  eighteenth  century,  that  the  more  they  wished  to  free  the 
spirit  and  liberate  the  mind  of  man,  the  less  they  should  loosen 
the  bonds  of  moral  convention.  Voltaire  was,  unfortunately,  * 
among  those  who  permitted  themselves  the  greatest  license 
in  this  respect;  and  his  literary  style  often  savors  of  the 
levity  of  his  morals." 

Few  authors  have  been  the  object  of  so  much  comment  ^ 
by  superficial  students;   and  perhaps  no  other  writer  has 
called  forth  such  contradictory  criticisms.     The  praise  and 

297 


THE    HISTORY   OF    FRENCH   LITERATURE 

condemnation  of  opposing  commentators  have  been  alike  ex- 
cessive and  superlative.  The  superficial  ones  are  ready  with 
the  judgment  that  he  was  a  witty  writer,  with  an  excellent 
literary  style,  but  a  very  bad  man.  Yet  so  complex  was  his 
nature,  so  many-sided  was  this  remarkable  being,  that  even 
those  who  have  studied  him  exhaustively  do  not  fully  under- 
stand him.  The  truth  is  that  Voltaire  was  something  more 
than  an  author  in  the  ordinary  sense  of  that  term;  he  was 
an  integral  part  of  the  century  itself  with  all  its  merits  and 
shortcomings. 

"  Den  hb'chsten  unter  den  Franzosen  denkbaren,  der 
Nation  gemassesten  Schrif tsteller, "  said  Goethe  of  Voltaire. 
Again,  writing  to  Eckerman  (January  3,  1830),  Goethe  has 
spoken  of  the  influence  exercised  upon  his  youth  by  the 
genius  of  the  great  Frenchman,  and  how  he  labored  to  escape 
it  in  order  to  develop  his  own  individuality.  Even  to  this 
day,  the  numerous  editors  of  Voltaire's  works  are  divided 
into  two  opposing  factions ;  but  scan  as  we  may  the  evidence 
of  the  opposition,  it  is  difficult  to  see  how  Carlyle  could  have 
gone  so  far  astray  as  to  remark  that  in  all  of  Voltaire  he  had 
not  found  "  one  grand  thought."  The  injustice  of  such  a 
criticism,  and  its  incompatibility  with  the  simple  record  of 
Voltaire's  labors  in  behalf  of  humanity,  must  be  apparent  to 
anyone  who  recalls  his  crusade  against  torture,  slavery,  judi- 
cial oppression,  and  the  evils  of  a  censored  press.  Here  was 
a  man  who,  all  alone,  with  no  other  weapons  than  his  intel- 
lect and  his  pen,  opposed  the  terrible  abuses  rooted  for 
centuries  in  the  proceedings  of  the  French  criminal  courts, 
who  stirred  all  Europe  with  the  power  and  the  success  of  his 
efforts  for  reform.  Moreover,  he  made  himself  felt  in  other 
practical  affairs.  During  a  time  of  erratic  mercantile  restric- 
tions, he  was  the  first  to  declare  for  free  trade,  and  to  exploit 
the  advantages  of  a  Suez  Canal. 

It  was  in  1788,  when  almost  eighty-four  years  of  age,  that 
Voltaire  made  a  trip  to  Paris  to  enjoy  his  glory.  His  return 
was  a  veritable  triumph,  his  entry  into  Paris  that  of  a  victo- 
rious king.  They  tell  a  story  that  during  his  journey,  which 
took  place  in  a  rigorous  winter,  the  postmasters  wanted  to 
assist  his  progress  themselves;  one  man,  old  and  infirm,  not 
being  able  to  mount  a  horse,  recommended  him  to  his  postilion 

298 


VOLTAIRE 

in  these  words :  ' '  Think  of  the  honor  which  is  yours  in  guid-  , 
ing  this  great  man ;  there  are  ten  kings  in  Europe,  but  there 
is  only  one  Voltaire  on  earth. ' '  After  he  had  arrived  in  Paris, 
Voltaire  stopped  at  the  Hotel  de  Bernieres  where  the  city,  the 
court,  the  Academy,  the  philosophers,  and  artists  came  to 
pay  tribute  to  him.  "  The  enthusiasm  with  which  he  was 
received  in  Paris,"  says  Condorcet,  "  spread  to  the  common 
people.  They  paused  before  his  windows;  they  passed  entire 
hours  there,  in  the  hope  of  seeing  him  for  a  moment;  his 
carriage,  forced  to  advance  at  a  walk,  was  surrounded  by  a 
numerous  crowd  who  blessed  him  and  praised  his  works. 
The  representation  of  Irene,  in  spite  of  the  weakness  of  the 
tragedy,  was  the  occasion  for  a  new  triumph  for  him.  ,  His 
bust  was  crowned  in  the  theater  with  great  applause,  to  the 
accompaniment  of  joyful  cries,  and  tears  of  enthusiasm  and 
tenderness.  On  his  exit  people  cast  themselves  at  his  feet, 
they  kissed  his  garments.  "  You  want  to  make  me  die  with 
pleasure;  you  smother  me  beneath  roses!  "  exclaimed  Vol- 
taire. The  Abbe  Duvernet,  one  of  his  biographers  present  at 
the  scene,  tells  us  that  the  people  cried :  ' '  Honor  to  the  phi-  ^ 
losopher  who  teaches  us  to  think !  Glory  to  the  defender  of 
Galas!  Glory  to  the  savior  of  Sirven  and  Montbailly!  "* 
All  this  proves  to  what  extent  Voltaire  had  influenced  public 
opinion  by  his  attacks  on  fanaticism.  When  Voltaire,  on 
coming  to  Paris,  met  Benjamin  Franklin,  the  American  phi- 
losopher presented  his  grandson  to  him,  asking  his  blessing. 
"  God  and  liberty,"  said  Voltaire;  "  that  is  the  only  bene- 
diction suitable  for  the  grandson  of  Mr.  Franklin."  God  •""' 
and  liberty  were,  moreover,  in  two  words,  the  sum  of  Vol- 
taire's philosophy. 

Voltaire  survived  this  triumph  but  a  short  time.  As  he 
had  not  received  the  sacraments  of  the  church,  his  inter- 
ment in  the  chapel  of  a  monastery  at  Scellieres,  of  which  his 
nephew  was  the  Abbe,  was  accomplished  by  a  kind  of  fraud. 
The  government,  rivaling  the  clergy  in  rancor,  prohibited 
the  press,  which  it  absolutely  controlled  at  this  time,  from 

1  Famous  cases  in  which  Voltaire  was  an  indefatigable  champion  of 
justice  miscarried:  among  the  most  sensational  of  which  were  those  of 
Galas,  Sirven,  Montbailly,  de  La  Barre,  of  the  Comte  de  Lally,  governor 
of  the  French  possessions  in  India,  and  of  the  serfs  of  the  Jura  Mountains. 

299 


THE    HISTORY   OF    FRENCH   LITERATURE 

speaking  of  his  death,  and  the  theatrical  managers  had  orders 
not  to  play  any  of  his  dramas.  In  the  time  of  the  Terror, 
his  remains  were  exhumed  and  transferred  to  the  Pantheon 
with  solemn  pomp ;  and  to-day  he  figures  in  bas-relief  on  the 
front  of  this  edifice. 

\^  Voltaire  was  indeed  the  king  of  his  century;  at  this  time 
French  literature  gave  tone  to  all  Europe,  and  Voltaire  was 
the  principal  representative  of  that  literature.  Under  his 
scepter  the  republic  of  letters  was  transformed  into  a  mon- 
archy ;  and,  although  tempered  by  the  talents,  the  specialties, 
the  rivalries  of  contending  interests,  it  took  its  general  tone 
from  this  one  man.  Never  did  literature  undergo  such  a 
royal  rule.  In  his  hands,  tragedy  took  on  an  entirely  new 
character,  although  it  never  reached  the  heights  of  Corneille 
or  Racine;  it  became  philosophic,  moralizing,  didactic,  and 
aimed  to  persuade,  without  ignoring  the  art  of  pleasing. 

*•  Zaire,  the  most  beautiful  tragedy  of  love  that  had  been  written 
since  Racine,  is  Voltaire's  masterpiece — "  la  piece  enchante- 
resse,"  as  J.  J.  Rousseau  called  it. 

ZAIRE 

The  argument  of  Zaire  is  as  follows:  It  is  the  time  of  the 
crusades.  Saladin  has  dethroned  the  last  of  the  Lusignans, 
and  recaptured  the  Holy  Land  from  the  Christians.  Oros- 
mane,  one  of  his  successors,  reigns  in  Jerusalem;  but  he  is  a 
sultan  who  loves  progress,  and  who  wants  to  be  loved  for 
himself  by  his  subjects,  by  the  Christians,  and  especially  by 
Zai're,  a  young  slave  who  has  been  reared  in  his  palace. 
Lusignan,  a  prisoner  for  twenty  years,  is  set  free  by  Orosmane, 
and  recognizes  his  son  in  a  Christian  knight,  Nerestan,  who 
has  come  from  France  to  ransom  the  captives,  together  with 
his  daughter,  Zaire,  who  has  been  educated  in  Moham- 
medanism, and  is  about  to  marry  the  sultan.  Lusignan  is  in 
despair,  and  utters  those  famous  and  beautiful  verses  which 
soften  the  heart  of  Zaire  and  make  her  promise  to  receive 
baptism.  When  Orosmane  comes  to  seek  her  for  the  marriage 
ceremony,  she  hesitates ;  he  is  jealous,  suspects  something,  sur- 
prises her  at  the  moment  when  Nerestan  comes  to  lead  her 
away  for  baptism,  and  stabs  her.  Nerestan  explains  every- 

300 


VOLTAIRE 

thing  to  him,  and  Orosmane,  in  despair,  kills  himself,  after 
having  opened  the  seraglio  and  given  liberty  to  all  his 
prisoners. 

MEROPE   (LA  MESSENIENNE) 

This  is  the  plot  of  Merope:  Cresphonte,  King  of  Mes- 
senia,  has  been  assassinated.  The  assassin,  Polyphonte,  has 
been  able  to  keep  his  crime  secret  for  fifteen  years,  and  seeks 
to  compel  Merope,  the  widow  of  Cresphonte,  who  has  remained 
mistress  of  the  throne,  to  give  him  her  hand  in  marriage.  But 
she  thinks  only  of  her  son,  Egisthe,  long  since  missing,  who, 
exposed  to  the  murderers  of  his  father,  has  been  taken  secretly 
away  from  Messenia  by  his  rescuer.  One  day  a  young  man, 
alleged  to  be  the  murderer  of  this  child,  is  brought  to  Merope. 
She  wishes  to  punish  him  herself;  but  at  the  moment  when 
she  lifts  the  dagger  to  strike,  she  recognizes  him  as  her  son, 
who  denounces  the  crimes  of  Polyphonte,  and  kills  him,  to 
the  satisfaction  of  all.  The  following  verses  from  Merope 
have  become  proverbial,  and  are  frequently  recalled : 

Le  premier  qui  fut  roi  fut  un  soldat  heureux.1 
Qui  sert  bien  son  pays  n'a  pas  besoin  d'aieux.2 

Quand  on  a  tout  perdu,  quand  on  n'a  plus  d'espoir, 
La  vie  est  un  opprobre,  et  la  mort  un  devoir.* 

ALZIRE    (L'AMERICAINE) 

Alzire  is  a  philosophic  tragedy  in  which  there  are  some 
very  beautiful  verses  on  tolerance.  Alzire,  daughter  of  the 
Peruvian  chief,  Monteze,  is,  like  her  father,  a  convert  to 
Christianity.  She  is  pledged  to  wed  Zamore — descended,  like 
herself,  from  the  kings  of  Peru;  but  in  Zamore 's  absence  the 
Spanish  governor,  Don  Gusman,  asks  for  her  hand.  Alzire, 
who  thinks  that  Zamore  has  been  killed,  yields  to  the  prayers 
of  her  father  and  consents  to  the  marriage;  but  immediately 

1  The  first  who  was  king  was  a  fortunate  soldier. 
J  He  who  serves  his  country  well  has  no  need  of  ancestors. 
3  When  one  has  lost  all,  when  one  hopes  no  more,  life  is  opprobrious  and 
death  a  duty. 

301 


THE    HISTORY   OF    FRENCH   LITERATURE 

after  the  ceremony,  Zamore,  who  Sees  in  Gusman  a  fortunate 
rival,  the  enemy  of  his  gods  and  the  oppressor  of  his  country, 
reappears  with  his  warriors.  He  slays  Gusman,  who,  dying, 
forgives  him,  and  commits  his  widow  to  Zamore 's  charge. 


MAHOMET  (L'IMPOSTEUR) 

The  Mahomet  of  Voltaire  is  an  ambitious  impostor  who, 
in  order  to  elevate  himself,  imposes  upon  the  credulity  of 
men.  He  explains  to  Zopire,  chief  of  Mecca,  which  he  is 
besieging,  his  ideas  and  plans ;  he  promises  to  do  his  best  for 
Zopire,  and  to  give  him  his  due  share  in  the  great  enterprise 
which  he  has  formed.  Zopire  answers  that  he  will  never 
consent  to  be  the  accomplice  of  an  impostor,  and  the  struggle 
between  the  two  men  begins.  Mahomet  believes  himself  lost 
unless  Zopire  is  put  out  of  the  way,  and  seeks  to  have  him 
assassinated.  He  has  taken  into  his  camp  Zopire 's  two 
children,  Sei'de  and  Palmire,  whom  Zopire  has  for  a  long  time 
believed  to  be  dead.  These  children,  not  knowing  that  they 
are  brother  and  sister,  have  fallen  in  love  with  each  other. 
Mahomet  orders  Sei'de  to  kill  Zopire  when  Zopire  offers  sacri- 
fices to  his  gods.  Sei'de  consents;  but  at  the  moment  when 
Zopire  has  been  wounded,  he  recognizes  his  children.  Se'ide, 
horrified  at  his  own  action  and  at  that  of  Mahomet,  wishes  to 
denounce  him  before  the  assembled  people ;  but  Mahomet  has 
him  poisoned,  and  when  Sei'de  accuses  him  of  imposture, 
Mahomet  exclaims,  "  Thou  has  blasphemed  against  the  prophet 
of  God ;  thou  shalt  die !  ' '  Having  been  poisoned,  Sei'de  does 
indeed  die  before  the  eyes  of  the  people,  who  continue  devoted 
to  Mahomet.  This  is  the  play  which  Voltaire  dedicated  to 
Pope  Benedict  XIV.  We  cite  a  familiar  couplet  from  this 
play: 

Les  mortels  sont  egaux,  ce  n'est  point  la  naissance, 

C'est  la  seule  vertu  qui  fait  leur  difference.1 

Voltaire's  other  tragedies  include  La  Mort  de  Cesar, 
borrowed  from  Shakespeare;  Semiramis;  Oreste;  Tancrede, 

1  Mortals  are  equal;  it  is  not  birth — it  is  only  virtue  that  differentiates 
them. 

302 


VOLTAIRE 

borrowed  from  Ariosto.     Among  his  comedies  are:  Nanine; 
I'Ecossaise. 

The  most  important  of  Voltaire's  compositions  is  his  Essai 
sur  les  Moeurs  et  I' Esprit  des  Nations  depuis  Charlemagne  * 
jusqu'd  Louis  XIV.  Of  his  Siecle  de  Louis  XIV,  Voltaire 
says:  "It  is  not  only  the  life  of  the  prince  which  I  am 
describing,  it  is  not  only  the  annals  of  his  reign ;  it  is  rather 
the  history  of  the  human  mind,  drawn  from  the  most  glorious 
century  of  intellectual  life."  Among  his  novels  and  prose 
tales  are  Zadig,  Candide,  L'Ingenu,  La  Princesse  de  Baby- 
lone,  I'Homme  aux  Quarante  Ecus.  In  the  Dictionnaire 
Philosopkique  is  condensed  all  his  philosophic  thought.  His 
poems  include  Le  Desastre  de  Lisbonne,  the  satires,  and  La 
Pucelle,  a  burlesque  epic  on  Jeanne  d'Are,  which  caused  him 
much  tribulation  during  his  lifetime.  Some  of  his  country- 
men never  forgave  him  this  offense  against  their  national 
heroine.  Voltaire  pointedly  made  sport  of  her,  whereas  the 
German  poet,  Schiller,  glorified  her  and  made  her  appear  as 
a  divine  being.  In  our  day,  Anatole  France  treats  Joan  of 
Arc  in  his  usual  skeptical  way,  while  Andrew  Lang,  like 
Schiller,  exalts  her. 

On  les  persecute,  on  les  tue, 
Sauf  apres  un  long  examen, 
A  leur  dresser  une  statue, 
Pour  la  gloire  du  genre  humain.1 

(Be"ranger.) 

The  following  are  a  few  of  Voltaire's  epigrams: 

J'eus  e"te  pres  du  Gange  esclave  des  faux  dieux — 
Chre'tienne  a  Paris,  Musulmane  en  ces  lieux.* 

(From  Zaire.) 


1  They  are  persecuted  and  killed,  but  after  a  long  critical  examination 
a  statue  is  erected  to  them  for  the  glory  of  the  human  race.  Schiller's 
prophecy,  "Du  wirst  unsterblich  leben,"  has  realized  itself:  Joan  of  Arc 
was  beatified  by  Pope  Pius  X,  in  1909. 

1  On  the  Ganges  I  would  have  been  a  slave  to  false  gods — a 
Christian  in  Paris,  a  Musulman  in  these  places. 

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THE    HISTORY   OF    FRENCH   LITERATURE 

Tout  comprendre,  c'est  tout  pardonner.1 

Je  vous  dois  tout,  puisque  c'est  moi  qui  vous  aime.2 

M.  C.  Lockwood  says :  ' '  Popular  conceptions  of  Voltaire 
are  in  some  respects  erroneous.  He  is  regarded  as  an  arch- 
infidel  and  the  bitter  foe  of  religion.  On  the  contrary,  he 
was  always  a  deist.  He  never  assails  the  '  Sermon  on  the 
Mount,'  nor  can  one  who  reads  him  carefully  believe  that 
there  would  not  have  been  a  subtle  sympathy  between  him 
and  the  best  religious  minds  of  later  days.  He  never  mocked 
men  who  lived  good  lives,  nor  opposed  with  any  bitterness 
those  who  were  the  friends  of  liberty  of  conscience." 

The  inscription,  "  Deo  erexit  Voltaire,"3  on  the  church 
given  by  him  to  Ferney  is  not  a  sacrilegious  jest,  but  a  re- 
proof to  those  who  dedicated  churches  to  the  Saints  and 
never  to  the  Deity.  Voltaire  was  in  earnest  in  his  Deism 
because  he  could  not  conceive  a  well-regulated  universe  with- 
out a  supreme  power ;  but  no  religious  thought  seems  to  have 
entered  into  his  conception  of  God.  In  his  Ode  to  the  author 
of  the  book,  De  tribus  impostonbus,  he  says:  "  Si  Dieu 
n'existait  pas,  il  faudrait  Pinventer."4  In  his  poem  to  the 
King  of  Prussia  he  wrote: 

Nous  adorions  tous  deux  le  Dieu  de  I'univers; 

Car  il  en  est  un,  quoi  qu'on  disc : 

Mais  nous  n'avions  pas  la  sottise 

De  le  dishonorer  par  des  cultes  pervers.* 

Of  his  Histoire  de  Jenni,  ou  I'Athee  et  le  Sage,  La  Harpe 
says :  "  It  is  a  little  philosophical  novel  against  atheists,  and 
therefore  very  edifying  for  good  atheists.  Finally,  Voltaire 


1  To  understand  all  is  to  forgive  all. 
2 1  owe  you  all,  since  it  is  I  who  love  you. 
\    J  "Erected  by  Voltaire  to  God." 

* "  If  God  did  not  exist,  it  would  be  necessary  to  invent  Him." 
5  We  both  worshiped  the  God  of  the  universe; 
For  there  is  one,  whatever  may  be  said ; 
But  we  did  not  commit  the  folly 
Of  dishonoring  Him  by  perverse  creeds. 
304 


VOLTAIRE 

himself,  in  his  letter — August  4,  1775 — to  d'Argental,  says: 
"  I  have  always  regarded  atheists  as  impudent  sophists;  I 
have  said  it,  I  have  printed  it.  The  author  of  Jenni  cannot  be 
suspected  of  thinking  like  Epicurus.  Spinoza  himself,  admits 
a  supreme  intelligence  in  nature." 


21 


CHAPTER   XX 

MONTESQUIEU,    BUFFON,    AND   ROUSSEAU 

MONTESQUIEU 

CHARLES  DE  SECONDAT,  Baron  de  Montesquieu  et  de  la 
Brede,  was  born  in  1689,  at  the  chateau  de  la  Brede,  near 
Bordeaux,  of  a  noble  family.  He  kept  aloof  from  court  favor, 
and  was  therefore  in  a  position  to  write  as  independently 
as  was  possible  in  those  days.  Having  been  offered  a  payment 
by  grace  of  the  court,  he  refused  it,  saying:  "  N'ayant  point 
fait  de  bassesses  je  n'avais  pas  besoin  d'etre  console  par  des 
graces."  (Having  committed  no  base  act,  I  did  not  need  the 
consolation  of  favors.)  But  he  was  far  from  being  indifferent 
to  the  prerogatives  of  his  birth  and  to  the  privileges  attached 
to  his  manorial  possessions ;  and  all  this  was  made  apparent  in 
the  development  of  his  ideas. 

The  Baron  de  Montesquieu  was  the  apostle  of  political 
liberty.  Destined  for  the  law,  to  which  profession  his  family 
belonged,  he  gave  himself  up  to  the  study  of  jurisprudence 
at  a  very  early  age — relieving  the  monotony  of  it  by  reading 
books  of  history  and  travel  and  the  works  of  ancient  writers. 
The  first  subject  on  which  Montesquieu  exercised  his  pen 
was  the  thesis  that  the  idolatry  of  the  pagans  did  not  deserve 
eternal  damnation.  He  was  thus — at  the  age  of  twenty — 
already  manifesting  his  attachment  for  the  ancients  and  his 
hatred  of  religious  intolerance,  and,  at  the  same  time,  his 
critical  spirit.  But  this  essay  he  did  not  consider  worthy  of 
publication. 

Having  been  admitted  to  the  Parlement  of  Bordeaux  in 
1714,  he  soon  succeeded  his  uncle  as  the  president  a  mortier.1 

1  Mortier,  formerly  a  round  cap  of  black  velvet,  laced  with  gold  and 
with  a  crown  in  the  form  of  a  mortar-board,  worn  by  the  presidents  of  such 

306 


MONTESQUIEU 

He  employed  the  leisure  time  which  his  office  permitted 
him  in  studying  moral,  political,  and  historical  sciences.  He 
read  a  dissertation  in  the  Academic  de  Bordeaux,  of  which 
he  was  the  founder,  on  the  "  Policy  of  the  Romans  in  Re- 
ligion " — which  was,  as  it  were,  the  prelude  of  his  great 
work. 

The  principal  result  of  his  leisure  was  the  Lettres  persanes. 
This  is  the  imaginary  correspondence  of  three  Persians,  Rica, 
Usbek,  and  Rhedi,  who  go  to  Europe  to  study  its  customs  and 
its  institutions.  Rhedi  tarries  in  Venice,  while  Rica  and  Usbek 
repair  to  Paris.  From  the  time  of  their  departure  an  active 
correspondence  is  carried  on  between  Usbek,  his  concubines, 
Zachi,  Zephis,  Fatime,  Roxane,  Zelis,  and  their  eunuchs:  and 
between  the  three  travelers  and  their  friends  at  Ispahan. 
Very  soon  discord  breaks  out  in  the  seraglio  of  Usbek:  the 
eunuchs  endeavor  to  right  matters ;  one  of  the  favorites,  Rox- 
ane, poisons  herself  after  addressing  some  ironical  farewells 
to  the  master  whom  she  has  deceived. 

Montesquieu  realized  that  without  the  narrative  of  sala- 
cious episodes  peculiar  to  the  harem,  his  Lettres  persanes, 
with  all  their  statesmanlike  wisdom,  would  never  have  at- 
tained wide  popularity;  and  he  showed  his  perspicacity  by 
employing  these  and  like  incidents  in  order  to  get  a  popular 
hearing  for  the  serious  and  mighty  ideas  which  animated 
his  work.  In  these  letters  he  passes  in  review,  with  per- 
fect freedom,  the  politics,  the  religion,  and  the  entire  society 
of  France.  It  is  a  bitter  satire  of  the  ridiculous  charac- 
teristics of  European  society,  in  which  Montesquieu  touches 
upon  the  most  serious  questions  of  philosophy,  politics,  and 
morality.  For  the  most  part  the  Persians,  Usbek  and 
Rica,  depict  the  lives  and  acts  of  the  Oriental  despots,  and 
compare  them  with  the  French  monarchs,  whose  weaknesses 
and  defects  are  plainly  shown  through  a  thin  disguise; 
but  occasionally  the  author  is  openly  and  bitterly  satirical, 
as,  for  instance,  in  Letter  XXXVII,  describing  the  aged  King 
Louis  XIV: 

"  Le  roi  de  France  est  vieux.  Nous  n'avons  point  d 'ex- 
assemblies:  hence  —  president  a  mortier.  It  is  nowadays  the  cap  worn  by 
the  judges  of  the  Cour  de  Cassation  and  the  Cour  des  Comptes. 

307 


emple  dans  nos  histoires  d'un  monarque  qui  ait  si  longtemps 
regne.  On  dit  qu'il  possede  a  un  tres-haut  degre  le  talent 
de  se  faire  obeir:  il  gouverne  avec  le  meme  genie  sa  famille, 
sa  cour,  son  etat.  On  lui  a  souvent  entendu  dire  que,  de  tous 
les  gouvernements  du  monde,  celui  des  Turcs  ou  celui  de 
notre  auguste  sultan  lui  plairait  le  mieux;  tant  il  fait  cas 
de  la  politique  orientale.  J'ai  etudie  son  caractere,  et  j'y  ai 
trouve  des  contradictions  qu'il  m'est  impossible  de  resoudre: 
par  exemple,  il  a  un  ministre  qui  u'a  que  dix-huit  ans,  et  une 
maitresse  qui  en  a  quatre-vingts.  II  aime  a  gratifier  ceux 
qui  le  servent;  mais  il  paye  aussi  liberalement  les  assiduites, 
ou  plutot  1'oisivete  de  ses  courtisans,  que  les  campagnes 
laborieuses  de  ses  capitaines:  souvent  il  prefere  un  homme 
qui  le  deshabille,  ou  qui  lui  donne  la  serviette  lorsqu'il  se 
met  a  table,  a  un  autre  qui  lui  prend  des  villes,  ou  lui  gagne 
des  batailles."1 

In  these  Letters2  Montesquieu's  candor  is  unrestrained; 
all  the  burning  questions  of  politics  and  society  are  discussed, 
without  however,  being  decided.  He  attacks  all  questions, 
not  with  an  angry  eloquence,  but  as  an  impersonal  observer 
who  does  not  commit  himself.  He  says:  "  The  nature  and 
aim  of  these  letters  are  so  exposed  that  they  will  never  de- 
ceive people  save  those  who  wish  to  deceive  themselves." 
Villemain  describes  the  Lettres  persanes  as  "the  most  profound 

1  "The  King  of  France  is  old.     We  have  no  example  in  history  of  a 
monarch  who  has  reigned  so  long.     It  is  said  that  he  possesses  in  a  very 
high  degree  the  talent  of  enforcing  obedience:  he  governs  with  the  same 
genius  his  family,  his  court,  his  state.     He  has  often  been  heard  to  say  that 
of  all  the  governments  of  the  world  that  of  the  Turks  or  that  of  our  august 
Sultan  would  please  him  best;  so  much  does  he  think  of  Oriental  politics. 
I  have  studied  his  character,  and  I  have  found  contradictions  impossible  for 
me  to  solve:  for  instance,  he  has  a  minister  eighteen  years  of  age   and  a 
mistress  who  is  eighty.     He  loves  to  gratify  those  who  serve  him;  but  he 
rewards  as  liberally  the  assiduities  or  rather  the  idleness  of  his  courtiers 
as  he  does  the  laborious  campaigns  of  his  captains ;  often  he  prefers  a  man 
who  undresses  him  or  one  who  gives  him  a  napkin  when  seated  at  table, 
to  another  who  takes  cities  or  wins  battles  for  him." 

2  A  few  years  ago  Montesquieu's  descendants  at  last  consented  to  the 
publication  of  his  manuscripts  in  the  archives  of  the  chateau  de  La  Brede; 
and  from  these  Professor  Barkhausen  of  the  law  faculty  in  Bordeaux  has 
since  written  a  book:  Montesquieu:  ses  idees  et  ses  ceuvres. 

308 


MONTESQUIEU 

of  frivolous  books. "  M.  Tourneux,  in  his  preface  to  the  Jouaust 
edition  of  Montesquieu's  works,  says  it  is  probable  that  Mon- 
tesquieu borrowed  some  of  his  ideas  in  the  Lettres  persanes 
from  the  Spectator  of  Addison,  and  some  from  the  Amuse- 
ments serieux  et  comiques  of  Dufresny.  He  notes  that  the 
Lettres  were  published  in  Rouen  (as  were  Madame  de  Se- 
vigne's  letters  and  Voltaire's  Histoire  de  Charles  XII},  and 
not  in  Holland,  as  so  often  recorded ;  and  that  the  Holland  pub- 
lication was  the  second  edition,  corrected  for  Cardinal  Fleury 
and  supervised  by  his  secretary,  the  Abbe  Duval.1 

Montesquieu's  reputation  was  suddenly  established;  the 
Lettres,  we  are  told,  "  sold  like  bread."  The  success  of  the 
work  was  so  great,  and  the  debate  it  provoked  so  prodigious, 
that,  according  to  what  he  himself  says,  the  booksellers  em- 
ployed every  means  to  secure  a  series  of  similar  works.  They 
buttonholed  every  one  they  met,  saying:  "  Write  me  a  set 
of  Lettres  persanes." 

Montesquieu's  Temple  de  Gnide  and  Arsace  et  Ismenie 
show  traces  of  that  licentiousness  characteristic  of  his  con- 
temporaries, which  he  himself,  despite  the  dignity  of  his 
character,  did  not  escape.  His  Histoire  Veritable  is  a  novel 
that  reflects  Montesquieu 's  view  of  the  world :  it  tells  how  the 
servant  of  an  Indian  bonze  makes  use  of  his  master's  piety 
to  turn  money  into  his  own  coffers.  He  lives  in  great  splen- 
dor, but  is  finally  unmasked  and  becomes  a  fugitive.  As  a 
punishment  for  his  sins,  he  undergoes  successive  transmigra- 
tions of  the  soul,  assuming,  by  turns,  the  form  of  Apis,  the 
Bull  of  Memphis  worshiped  by  the  Egyptians ;  of  the  elephant 
of  the  King  of  Thibet;  of  a  poet,  a  courtier,  a  man  of  the 
world,  a  tramp,  a  gambler,  a  prestidigitator,  a  cab  horse,  a 
eunuch,  a  courtesan,  etc. 

Montesquieu  thought  himself  entitled  to  a  place  in  the 
Academy,  which  in  the  eighteenth  century  was  considered 
more  important  than  it  is  at  present.  Cardinal  Fleury,  then 
prime  minister,  had  not  read  the  Lettres  persanes;  but  he  took 
exception  to  them  on  the  strength  of  the  report  that  they  were 
an  offense  to  religion  and  the  state.  The  doors  of  the  Acad- 
emy were  barred  to  the  author,  for  in  the  mouth  of  Rica, 

1  Newest  edition  by  H.  Barkhausen,  1900. 
309 


Montesquieu  had  put  the  words :  There  is  no  tribunal  in  the 
world  less  respected  than  the  Academy.  Then  Montesquieu 
resorted  to  a  ruse  to  gain  favor  with  the  minister.  He  pub- 
lished a  new  edition  of  the  Lettres  in  which  he  abridged  and 
modified  the  doubtful  passages,  and  then  himself  took  his  book 
to  the  Cardinal  who,  charmed  with  the  literary  style,  declared 
it  to  be  "  more  agreeable  than  dangerous."  They  parted  on 
the  best  of  terms,  and  Montesquieu  was  received  into  the 
Academy.  Shortly  afterwards  he  left  France  for  a  voyage 
into  foreign  lands,  in  order  to  study  the  laws  and  the  customs 
of  their  inhabitants.  He  first  went  to  Vienna,  and  was  re- 
ceived at  the  court  of  the  Prince  of  Savoy,  where  he  found 
absolute  monarchy  on  another  soil;  and  thence  to  Hungary, 
where,  as  M.  Villemain  says,  he  could  record  the  waning 
expressions  of  that  feudal  vigor  he  so  vividly  described  in  a 
few  lines  of  the  Esprit  des  lois.  He  then  passed  over  to  Italy, 
where  he  could  study  various  forms  of  government:  at  Flor- 
ence the  absolute  authority,  easily  supported,  of  a  Grand 
Duke;  at  Venice,  the  aristocratic  repubb'c  with  its  Council 
of  Ten  and  its  mysterious  rule ;  at  Rome,  the  pontificate.  Here 
he  was  presented  to  Pope  Benedict  XIV,  who  offered  him 
(so  the  story  goes)  a  life-long  dispensation  from  fasting. 
Montesquieu,  greatly  flattered,  hastened  to  accept:  but  when 
he  saw  the  bill  of  expenses  connected  with  the  papal  document 
in  the  case,  he  returned  the  papers  to  the  Pope's  secretary 
saying:  "  Monseigneur,  I  thank  his  Holiness  for  his  great 
kindness ;  but  as  he  is  such  an  honorable  man,  I  shall  depend 
on  his  word." 

From  Italy,  Montesquieu  went  to  Switzerland — the  country 
of  William  Tell,  the  refuge  of  liberty,  the  land  of  republican- 
ism par  excellence;  thence  to  Holland,  where  he  found,  in 
another  form,  the  image  of  liberty  and  republican  institutions. 
In  Holland  he  met  Lord  Chesterfield,  who  took  him  on  his 
yacht  to  London  and  presented  him  to  the  queen.  Here  again, 
in  another  guise,  he  found  political  liberty  diffused  by  a  mixed 
constitution,  the  mechanism  of  which  he  himself  was  to  ex- 
plain so  admirably.  He  arrived  there  in  1729,  the  very  date 
of  Voltaire's  departure  from  England,  and  remained  two 
years,  during  which  he  learned  to  love  and  understand  liberty 
— a  thing  which  a  Frenchman  at  that  time  could  hardly  com- 

310 


MONTESQUIEU 

prebend.  Rich  in  observation  and  materials,  Montesquieu 
then  retired  to  his  chateau  de  la  Brede,  in  1731,  in  order  to 
elaborate  them  in  peace,  and  compose  from  them  the  work  he 
was  planning.  He  himself  said :  ' '  When  I  was  out  in  the 
world,  I  loved  it  so  that  I  could  not  endure  retirement ;  when  I 
am  on  my  estates,  I  no  longer  think  of  the  world. ' ' 

Villemain  has  remarked  that  this  necessity  for  retirement 
was  something  felt  by  almost  all  the  thinkers  of  the  eighteenth 
century.  Voltaire,  after  trying  a  number  of  retreats,  came 
at  last  to  settle  down  at  Ferney,  where  he  passed  the  last 
twenty  years  of  his  life.  Rousseau  lived  in  the  country  al- 
most constantly,  and  always  sought  solitude.  Buffon  pro- 
duced his  great  works  in  his  chateau  at  Montbar ;  Montesquieu, 
in  his  chateau  de  la  Brede.  They  all  wished  to  escape  at  once 
the  distractions  and  the  importunities  of  the  great  cities; 
some  sought  a  greater  liberty  in  their  retirement.  Far  from 
the  world,  they  acted  powerfully  on  it. 

The  first  fruit  of  Montesquieu's  retirement  was  the  Con- 
siderations sur  les  causes  de  la  grandeur  et  de  la  decadence 
des  Romains,  in  which  he  sums  up  with  the  conciseness  of 
genius  the  institutions  and  customs  of  the  Romans,  and  de- 
scribes with  a  most  extraordinary  precision  and  penetra- 
tion the  causes  that  explain  the  growth  and  fall  of  their 
empire. 

In  this  work,  Montesquieu  showed  himself  a  great  historian, 
and  especially  a  profound  moralist — an  initiator  of  that 
method  which  has  since  been  called  the  psychology  of  nations. 
But  this  was  only  a  detached  portrait  of  the  vast  whole.1 
Montesquieu  had  undertaken  to  embrace  in  a  single  work  the 
laws  of  all  nations,  by  reducing  them  to  fundamental  princi- 
ples and  revealing  their  spirit;  whence  the  title,  The  Spirit 
of  Laws,  a  work  of  sociology — his  capital  work — which  contains 
all  his  thought  and  all  his  life.  He  labored  on  it  for  twenty 
years:  "  At  last,"  he  says,  "  I  have  seen  my  work  begin, 
develop,  advance,  and  end."  It  is  a  masterpiece  of  French 
literature.  At  the  outset,  the  author  postulates  laws  and 
justice  as  eternal  and  absolute — man  being  given  such  as  he 

1  The  Considerations  were  originally  meant  to  be  a  part  of  the  Esprit 
des  Lois;  but  the  author  published  them  separately. 

311 


THE    HISTORY   OF   FRENCH   LITERATURE 

is  organized  to  receive.  There  follows  a  review  of  various 
legislations  and  customs  which  have  contributed  to  the  pros- 
perity of  nations  or  caused  their  fall;  of  circumstances,  aris- 
ing at  the  birth  of  nations,  and  moral  principles  which,  trans- 
formed into  revolutions,  changed  the  face  of  the  world.  The 
author  indicates  in  the  very  nature  of  governments  the  prin- 
ciples that  animate  them ;  and  from  these  principles,  combined 
with  the  needs  of  peoples,  he  deduces  the  laws  that  have  made 
them  live  and  that  still  sustain  them.  He  declares  for  tolera- 
tion of  the  most  absolute  nature  in  matters  of  religion.  As 
for  his  political  ideal,  after  having  examined  the  three  prin- 
cipal forms  of  government — the  republic,  monarchy,  despo- 
tism— he  finds  it  in  Great  Britain's  constitution,  in  which 
democracy,  aristocracy,  and  monarchy  are  happily  blended. 
Montesquieu  in  this  work,  makes  the  generalization  that  the 
development  of  a  people,  and — above  all — its  laws,  depend 
upon  conditions  of  the  land,  climate,  religion,  and  tempera- 
ment. The  language  he  employs  is  that  of  the  dispassionate 
observer;  for  this  reason  the  book  was  permitted  to  circulate 
freely  in  France  and  became  the  basis  for  the  liberal  political 
science  of  modern  times;  for  this  reason  also  it  did  not  meet 
with  the  approval  of  the  rabid  republicans  who  came  after 
him.  Nevertheless,  it  eloquently  expounded  for  the  first 
time  the  fundamental  ideas  expressed  in  the  Revolution  fifty 
years  later,  although  Montesquieu  did  not  desire  the  over- 
throw of  the  monarchy.  Believing  that  France  was  not  ripe 
for  a  republic,  he  sought  rather  to  bring  about  the  English 
political  ideal  of  sound  relations  between  the  ruler  and  the 
people.  Prolem  sine  matre  creatam  was  the  motto  of  his 
Esprit  des  lois  (Spirit  of  Laws),  which  consists  of  thirty  books. 
Of  these,  the  first  eight  discuss  the  laws  in  relation  to  govern- 
ment in  its  three  forms — the  monarchy,  the  republic,  and 
despotism,  with  their  corresponding  attributes  of  honor,  virtue, 
and  fear;  each  government  perishing  through  an  exaggera- 
tion of  its  particular  principles.  Books  nine  to  thirteen,  treat 
of  the  laws  with  reference  to  liberty,  and  of  the  British  con- 
stitution. Books  fourteen  to  eighteen,  consider  the  laws  in 
connection  with  the  nature  of  the  climate  and  the  land,  and 
refer  to  the  origin  of  slavery.  Book  fifteen  is  devoted  to 
attacking  slavery,  serfdom,  torture,  and  the  inquisition. 

312 


MONTESQUIEU 

Book  nineteen  treats  of  laws  with  reference  to  customs ;  books 
twenty  to  twenty -three,  of  laws  in  their  bearing  on  commerce, 
finance,  and  population;  books  twenty-four  and  twenty-five 
of  laws  in  relation  to  religion.  Books  twenty-six  to  thirty 
are  concerned  with  the  history  of  the  right  of  inheritance  of 
the  Romans  and  the  Francs,  and  include  a  study  of  feudal 
laws. 

It  was  at  Geneva  that  the  two  first  editions  of  the  Esprit 
des  lois  were  published.  Its  success  far  surpassed  the  author's 
hopes;  there  were  twenty-two  editions  in  the  space  of  a  year 
and  a  half,  and  the  work  was  soon  translated  into  all  Euro- 
pean languages.  Objections,  criticisms,  epigrams,  were  not 
lacking.  Voltaire  eulogized  the  work  in  this  phrase:  "  The 
human  race  had  lost  its  charters;  M.  Montesquieu  has  redis- 
covered and  restored  them."  Montesquieu  was  furiously 
attacked  as  an  atheist  in  a  journal  entitled  Nouvelles  Ecclesi- 
astiques,  and  the  theologians  of  the  Sorbonne  prepared  to 
censure  his  work,  but  his  sole  reply  to  his  critics  was  his 
' '  Defense  of  the  Spirit  of  the  Laws  ' ' — a  masterpiece  of  irony 
and  eloquence.  After  the  publication  of  the  "  Spirit  of 
Laws,"  which  capped  his  glory  but  did  not  change  his  life 
and  his  character,  Montesquieu  felt  his  strength  declining. 
He  died  in  1755,  at  the  age  of  seventy  years.  The  priest  at 
his  bedside  said  to  him  a  few  moments  before  his  death :  "  You 
understand,  sir,  how  great  is  God  ?  "  "  Yes,"  answered 
Montesquieu,  "  and  how  petty  men  are!  " 

Montesquieu  is  one  of  the  greatest  thinkers  and  writers  of 
France —  a  prince  in  the  realm  of  intellect.  His  life  was  that 
of  a  sage.  He  loved  and  practised  virtue  because  virtue  is 
right  and  leads  to  happiness  through  its  regard  for  the  just 
and  true ;  he  did  much  good  without  ostentation,  and  enjoyed 
the  peace  of  a  clear  conscience.  "We  know  from  his  own  words 
that  he  was  naturally  happy:  "  I  awake  in  the  morning 
with  a  secret  joy  at  seeing  the  light;  I  behold  the  sun  with  a 
feeling  of  exultation,  and  am  content  all  the  rest  of  the  day. ' ' 
He  was  passionately  fond  of  reading,  study,  and  literary 
composition.  "  Study,"  he  says,  "  has  been  for  me  the  sov- 
ereign remedy  for  the  ills  of  life,  since  I  never  have  had  a  dis- 
appointment which  an  hour's  reading  could  not  dispel." 
Montesquieu  was  out  of  his  element  in  conversation;  he  him- 

313 


THE    HISTORY   OF    FRENCH   LITERATURE 

self  said  that  he  was  incapable  of  delivering  a  lecture,  and 
he  was  at  his  best  only  when  writing.  "  Timidity,"  he  con- 
fesses, ' '  has  been  the  scourge  of  my  life ;  it  seems  to  arrest 
the  action  of  my  vital  organs,  tie  my  tongue,  cloud  my 
thoughts,  and  distort  my  expressions.  Yet  I  have  never  been 
less  subject  to  these  difficulties  and  attacks  before  men  of 
education  than  before  fools,  because  I  could  hope  that  they 
would  understand  me,  and  that  gave  me  confidence."  He 
adds,  however,  with  naive  satisfaction,  that  on  great  occa- 
sions his  mind  worked  clearly  enough.  "  While  at  Luxem- 
burg," he  tells  us,  "  in  the  hall  in  which  the  Emperor  dined, 
Prince  Linski  said  to  me :  '  You,  sir,  who  come  from  France, 
are  probably  astonished  to  see  the  Emperor  so  badly  housed. ' 
'  My  lord,'  said  I,  '  I  am  pleased  to  see  a  country  where  the 
subjects  of  the  Emperor  are  better  lodged  than  their  master. ' 
While  in  Piedmont,  King  Victor  asked  me:  '  Sir,  are  you 
related  to  the  Abbe  de  Montesquieu,  whom  I  have  seen  here 
with  the  Abbe  d'Estrades?  '  '  Sire/  said  I  to  him,  '  Your 
Majesty  is  like  Caesar,  who  never  forgot  a  name.'  '  It  comes 
to  us  from  another  source  that  some  one  insisted  on  persuad- 
ing him  to  believe  a  thing  difficult  to  accept,  and  with  weari- 
some persistence  added :  "  If  this  is  not  true,  I  will  give  you 
my  head  " — "  I  accept  it,"  answered  Montesquieu.  "  Tri- 
fling gifts  cement  strong  friendships." 

He  could  accommodate  himself  to  the  different  character- 
istics of  peoples  as  he  could  to  those  of  individual  persons. 
"  When  I  am  in  France,"  he  used  to  say,  "  I  make  friends 
with  everyone ;  in  England,  with  no  one.  In  Italy  I  pay  com- 
pliments to  everybody;  in  Germany  I  drink  with  every- 
body." As  a  French  critic  writes:  "  There  was  in  his  compo- 
sition something  better  than  this  adaptability  to  all  tastes; 
there  was  that  eighteenth-century  breadth  of  sentiment  which 
we  call  cosmopolitanism:  he  could  easily  have  said  with  Soc- 
rates, I  am  not  only  a  citizen  of  Athens ;  I  am  a  citizen  of  the 
world.  Such  was  Montesquieu,  whose  essential  moderation  of 
character  is  not  to  be  confused  with  indifference,  nor  inter- 
preted as  an  offspring  of  egotism — a  moderation  that  did  not 
exclude  a  certain  warmth,  tempered  but  real,  not  only  for  his 
friends  and  for  the  unfortunate,  but  for  the  public  good  and 
the  welfare  ef  humanity.  It  was  this  temperamental  modera- 

314 


MONTESQUIEU 

tion  that  caused,  or  at  least  supported,  the  moderation  of  his 
mind.  Hence  his  impartiality,  his  breadth  of  view,  his  in- 
telligent grasp  of  history,  and  his  respect  for  tradition." 

BUFFON 

Georges  Louis  Le  Clerc,  Comte  de  Buffon,  was  born  at 
Montbard,  Cote  d'Or,  in  1707.  Of  an  ancient  family  of  law- 
yers, in  easy  circumstances,  honorable  and  esteemed,  he  was 
early  in  life  able  to  choose  his  career.  In  spite  of  the  paternal 
traditions,  he  devoted  himself  unhesitatingly  to  science — 
first  of  all  to  mathematics  and  general  physics.  After  having 
accompanied  a  young  Englishman,  the  Duke  of  Kingston,  and 
his  tutor  to  Italy,  and  then  to  England,  he  began  to  gain  prom- 
inence by  the  translation  of  two  works  of  a  scientific  nature — 
the  Statique  des  vegetaux  of  Hales  and  the  Traite  des  flexions 
of  Newton.  When  he  was  only  twenty-six  years  of  age,  his 
books  gained  him  admission  to  the  Academy  of  Sciences, 
though  his  writings  at  this  time  gave  little  hint  of  the  renown 
in  store  for  him.  Appointed  superintendent  of  the  Koyal 
Gardens,  in  1739,  he  had  cultivated  the  natural  sciences  very 
little;  it  was  therefore  by  accident,  and,  in  a  way,  officially, 
that  Buffon  became  a  naturalist.  After  ten  years  of  research 
and  meditation,  he  published  the  first  three  volumes  of  his 
Histoire  naturelle,  generale  et  particuliere,  avec  la  description 
du  cabinet  du  roi.  The  first  volume  contains  the  Theorie  de 
la  Terre  and  Systeme  sur  la  formation  des  planetes;  the  second 
volume,  the  Histoire  generale  des  animaux  and  the  Histoire 
particuliere  de  I'homme;  the  third,  his  Description  du  cabinet 
du  roi  and  Les  varietes  de  I'espece  humaine.  After  an  inter- 
val of  ten  years,  he  published  twelve  volumes  on  the  history 
of  quadrupeds;  and,  some  years  later,  ten  volumes  of  the 
Histoire  naturelle  des  oiseaux  et  des  mineraux,  together  with 
seven  volumes  of  supplements.  This  great  work  established 
Buffon 's  fame,  not  only  as  a  naturalist,  but  as  a  writer.  He 
devoted  forty  years  of  his  life  to  it,  and  was  assisted  by  such 
collaborators  as  the  savant  Daubenton,1  the  Abbe  Bexon,  and 

1  Daubenton's  special  work  was  concerned  with  the  anatomy  and 
dissection  of  animals. 

315 


THE    HISTORY   OF    FRENCH   LITERATURE 

Guineau  de  Montbeliard.  Yet  even  then  he  did  not  finish 
the  task,  which  was  completed  by  Lacepede,  from  Buffon 's 
notes,  with  the  publication  of  Les  serpents  (1789),  and  with 
Lacepede 's  original  work  in  six  volumes,  Les  poissons  et  les 
cetaces.  Thirty  years  separate  the  Theorie  de  la  Terre  (1749) 
from  les  Epoques  de  la  Nature  (1779,  fifth  volume  of  his  sup- 
plements) ;  and,  as  if  the  natural  historian  had  somehow 
wrested  from  his  study  of  nature  the  secret  of  eternal  youth, 
the  style  of  the  later  volume,  written  by  the  hand  of  a  sep- 
tuagenarian, cannot  be  distinguished  from  the  first,  except 
for  its  greater  accuracy  of  observation  and  perfection  of  form. 
The  Theorie  de  la  Terre  had  astounded  the  world ;  the  Epoques 
de  la  Nature  is  perhaps,  among  all  the  works  of  the  eighteenth 
century,  that  which  elevated  most  the  imagination  of  men. 
Following  his  argument,  we  see  that  at  a  date  extremely 
remote  a  comet  was  hurled  into  the  sun;  several  fragments 
were  detached,  and  one  of  these  fragments  became  the  earth. 
After  glowing  for  thousands  of  years,  like  the  sun,  it  became 
gradually  colder,  eventually  producing  organic  beings  at 
first  inferior,  but  progressively  more  perfect  animals.  In  the 
sixth  epoch,  man  appears  on  the  scene.  These  six  epochs 
are  almost  in  accord  with  the  six  days  of  the  Bible,  if  we 
admit  that  these  days  designate  periods  of  indefinite  length. 
Buffon  traces  eloquent  pictures  of  these  imaginary  epochs, 
especially  in  the  last  of  his  works,  which  is  considered  a  master- 
piece of  style.  His  ideas  are,  in  general,  conjectures ;  several, 
however,  have  been  admitted  by  science.  Less  conjectural 
is  his  history  of  animate  beings.  He  begins  by  establishing 
the  difference  that  separates  the  plant  from  the  animal — an 
extremely  minute  difference,  if  we  take  the  germ  at  the  begin- 
ning, but  which  is  accentuated  in  proportion  as  each  being 
develops.  Then  he  marks  the  resemblance  and  differences 
between  the  man  and  the  animal ;  he  shows  us  the  genus  homo 
in  dual  form — composed  of  a  body  in  which  the  lower  appe- 
tites rule  and  an  intelligence  that  directs  and  dominates  the 
instincts,  and,  in  weak  natures,  is  sometimes  dominated  by 
them.  There  is  in  this  history  a  celebrated  passage  in  which 
the  first  man  tells  in  what  order  he  has  acquired  his  ideas, 
and  how  these  ideas  are  entirely  the  result  of  his  sensations. 
Buffon  then  enters  into  the  details  of  the  human  structure ;  he 

316 


BUFFON 

analyzes  the  five  senses,  he  follows  the  development  of  the 
human  being  from  its  birth  to  its  death.  At  this  last  point 
he  challenges  the  terrors  death  inspires  in  us,  and  tries  to 
prove,  by  facts  and  reasoning,  that  death  in  itself  is  not  very 
painful.  Next  he  passes  in  review  all  human  races.  In  regard 
to  the  origin  of  beings,  Buffon  believes  in  spontaneous  genera- 
tion ;  he  supposes  that  at  each  instant,  nature  produces  germs 
capable  of  becoming  organized  beings  by  a  sort  of  fermenta- 
tion. The  most  popular  part  is  that  devoted  to  animals;  he 
has  described  in  this  volume  two  hundred  species  of  quad- 
rupeds and  eight  hundred  species  of  birds.  Every  one  of  these 
descriptions  is  a  painting;  he  is  the  first  among  the  moderns 
to  combine  natural  history  with  eloquence  of  language.  Sev- 
eral of  his  descriptions  are  celebrated;  among  those  oftenest 
cited  are  the  accounts  concerning  the  horse,  which  he  calls 
the  ' '  noble  warrior  ' ' ;  the  lion,  which  is  to  him  a  ' '  generous 
king  ";  the  tiger,  a  "  cruel  statesman  ";  the  fox,  an  "  adroit 
thief. ' '  All  these  animals  are  described  according  to  the  rela- 
tions which  Buffon  found  between  them  and  men.  He  did  for 
nature  what  Montesquieu  has  done  for  history ;  he  sought  for 
fundamental  laws  by  patient  study  of  facts. 

The  first  volumes  of  his  Histoire  Naturelle  were  his  pass- 
port to  the  French  Academy ;  on  his  admission  to  membership 
in  1753,  he  pronounced  a  discourse  on  literary  style,  in  which 
occurs  the  famous  phrase,  "  Le  style  est  Phomme  meme,"1 
which  has  since  been  changed  to  the  oft-quoted  "  Le  style, 
c'est  Phomme."  This  is  conspicuously  true  of  Buffon:  his 
style  reflects  his  pompous  habits,  his  elevation  of  ideas,  his 
nobility,  and  his  majestic  ways.  In  the  chateau  of  Montbard 
he  worked,  from  early  dawn  in  gala  costume — a  powdered 
periwig  on  his  head,  great  lace  ruffles 2  at  his  wrists  and  a 
sword  girded  at  his  side;  for,  as  he  said,  he  could  not  work 
unless  he  felt  himself  becomingly  dressed. 

Buffon  toiled  indefatigably  fourteen  hours  a  day,  his  ser- 
vant calling  him  at  five  in  the  morning,  with  orders  to  use 

1  "Les  connaissances,  les  faits  et  les  d6couvertes  .  .  .  sont  hors  de 
Phomme:  le  style  est  1'homme  meme."     (Discours  de  reception  a  1'Aca- 
de"mie  Francaise,  1753.) 

2  These  lace  cuffs  of  his  have  become  proverbial  as  characterizing 
affectation  of  style,  manners,  or  personal  behavior. 

317 


THE    HISTORY   OP   FRENCH   LITERATURE 

violence  if  necessary.  This  servant  discharged  his  peculiar 
duty  during  sixty  years,  which  led  Buffon  to  remark:  "  I 
owe  to  Joseph  at  least  twelve  volumes  of  my  books."  In  his 
study  the  only  ornament  was  a  portrait  of  Newton,  and  here 
he  passed  long  hours  meditating,  correcting,  and  reading 
aloud  to  assure  himself  of  the  perfect  harmony  of  his  phrases. 
He  wrote  laboriously,  often  spending  a  whole  morning  in 
finding  the  perfect  expression  for  a  thought.  It  is  said  that 
he  rewrote  his  Etudes  de  la  Nature  eleven  times.  This  inces- 
sant labor  explains  his  numerous  works,  his  pure  and  harmoni- 
ous style,  and  his  definition  of  genius,  which  he  calls  a  "  long 
patience."  On  Sundays  he  went  to  church  accompanied  by 
a  Capuchin  friar,  his  confessor  and  his  steward;  he  walked, 
with  head  held  high  among  his  vassals,  to  his  lordly  pew, 
where  he  seated  himself  with  great  pomp  and  received  the 
incense,  the  holy  water,  and  the  other  honors  due  his  rank. 
It  was  this  habitual  loftiness  of  demeanor,  and  its  reflection  in 
his  literary  style,  which  prompted  Voltaire  to  say  that  Buffon 's 
natural  history  was  not  natural.  Personally  he  seems  to 
have  had  no  other  religion  than  a  calm  and  serious  naturalism ; 
no  other  "  doctrine  of  morals  "  than  obedience  to  necessary 
and  immutable  laws.  He  has  been  reproached  for  believing 
that  insignificant  things  should  be  elevated  by  ornate  diction, 
which  often  gives  his  style  a  studied  and  pompous  eloquence. 
But  in  the  correspondence  of  Buffon  collected  and  annotated 
by  Nadault  de  Buffon  (1860),  one  may  trace  the  character  of 
the  man,  which  is  much  more  natural  and  simple  than  his 
writings  would  lead  one  to  believe.  Among  his  letters  are 
some  very  touching  ones  to  his  son,  to  Madame  Daubenton, 
and  Madame  Necker,  his  devoted  friend,  in  whose  arms 
Buffon  expired. 

The  career  of  Buffon  offers  few  events  that  are  particu- 
larly striking ;  it  was  peaceful,  worthy,  and  glorious.  His  time 
was  divided  between  the  Royal  Gardens  (now  Jardin  des 
Plantes),  and  his  estate  at  Montbard;  it  would  be  hard  to 
find  such  an  analogy  in  the  life  of  any  other  man  of  letters. 
He  was,  moreover,  one  of  those  who  live  wisely  and  calmly, 
though  adorned  with  no  mean  amount  of  glory.  Buffon  was 
a  literary  man  as  well  as  a  scholar;  hence  he  was  open  to  the 
assaults  of  emotion.  Yet  he  kept  his  mind  free  from  such 

318 


ROUSSEAU 

conflict.  His  two  ambitions  were  science  and  fame.  Fully 
convinced  of  the  superiority  of  his  genius,  upon  being  asked 
how  many  great  men  there  were,  he  answered  simply :  ' '  Five 
— Newton,  Bacon,  Leibnitz,  Montesquieu,  and  myself."  His 
good  opinion  of  himself  is  not  so  surprising  when  we  consider 
that  few  writers  have  enjoyed  such  universal  homage.  The 
sovereigns  of  Europe  honored  him  with  their  visits  or  with 
rich  presents.  Rousseau,  during  a  visit  to  Montbard,  knelt 
and  kissed  the  threshold  of  the  door  to  the  pavilion  where 
Buff  on  composed  his  Histoire  Naturelle.  In  the  course  of 
Great  Britain 's  war  with  her  American  colonies,  some  French 
privateers  captured  a  vessel  on  which  was  a  box  marked  with 
Buff  on 's  address;  this  box  was  sent  intact  to  him  at  Paris. 
During  his  lifetime,  a  statue  was  erected  in  his  honor  at  the 
entrance  of  the  Museum  of  Natural  History,  with  the  in- 
scription, Majestati  naturce  par  ingenium  ("  His  genius 
equals  the  majesty  of  nature  ") .  He  justified  this  inscription 
admirably  by  the  elevation,  the  fullness,  and  the  tranqiiil 
majesty  of  his  style,  in  which  were  reflected  the  dignity  of 
his  life,  the  grandeur  of  his  demeanor,  and  the  pride  of 
his  manners. 

One  of  the  four  great  prose  writers  of  the  eighteenth 
century,  he  towers  above  all  his  literary  contemporaries; 
though  in  ultimate  influence  he  falls  short  of  Voltaire,  Mon- 
tesquieu, and  Rousseau.  He  had  all  the  power  of  a  talent 
without  passion — a  talent  which  seeks  its  end  only  by  dint  of 
intelligence,  and  appeals  only  to  the  intellect.  Buffon — im- 
posing through  his  works,  the  greatness  of  his  talent,  the  na- 
ture of  his  brain — died  on  the  eve  of  the  Revolution,  in  1788. 

ROUSSEAU 

Jean-Jacques  Rousseau,  born  in  1712  at  Geneva,  was  the 
son  of  a  watchmaker ;  deprived  of  his  mother,  separated  from 
his  father,  for  a  long  time  he  led  an  adventurous  life.  Ap- 
prenticed to  an  engraver  who  maltreated  him,  he  escaped 
from  his  master,  and  was  sheltered  by  a  lady  in  Savoy, 
Madame  de  Warens,  who,  with  charming  quab'ties  of  mind 
and  heart,  led  an  irregular  life  and  was  possessed  of  false 
ideas.  Rousseau  was  by  turns  a  clerk,  a  teacher,  a  music 

319 


master,  a  lackey  for  a  countess,  and  a  servant  in  a  house  in 
Turin,  where  his  master,  discovering  his  abilities,  made  him 
his  secretary.  But  Rousseau  soon  tired  of  this,  and  joined  a 
comrade  with  whom  he  led  a  vagabond  life  in  Italy  and 
Switzerland,  eking  out  a  livelihood  by  showing  for  a  few 
sous,  a  fountain  that  had  the  appearance  of  changing  water 
into  wine.  Finally,  this  genius  and  Jack-of -all-trades  acted 
for  a  time  as  secretary  to  the  French  Ambassador  at  Venice. 
Ever  a  dreamer,  and  impractical,  he  returned  at  intervals 
to  Madame  de  Warens,  at  Chambery,  and  especially  to  her 
country  house  of  Les  Charmettes,  where  he  completed  his 
studies  in  solitude,  and  practiced  the  art  of  writing.  He  thought 
that  he  had  found,  in  a  new  method  of  noting  music,  the 
means  to  help  his  benefactress,  whose  affairs  were  in  disorder, 
and  he  went  to  Paris  to  submit  it  to  the  Academy  of  Sciences ; 
but  the  Academy  pronounced  it  impracticable.  He  succeeded, 
however,  in  having  presented  at  the  Opera  two  little  pieces 
of  which  he  had  composed  both  the  music  and  the  words: 
Le  Devin  de  village  (The  Village  Soothsayer),  and  Les  Muses 
galantes,  in  imitation  of  Italian  composers;  but  he  did  not 
succeed  in  making  a  reputation  as  a  composer  of  music.  Le 
Devin  de  village  was  received  very  favorably  at  the  court  of 
Louis  XV,  and  in  other  circles,  but,  as  was  characteristic  of 
Rousseau,  he  hurled  at  his  supporters  his  Lettre  sur  la  mu- 
sique  franqaise,  in  which  he  harshly  criticised  the  productions 
of  French  music,  and  thus  cut  off  his  chance  for  further  suc- 
cess. Poverty  was  at  his  door;  he  had  contracted  in  Paris, 
an  alliance  with  a  vulgar  person  in  every  respect  unworthy 
of  him — an  alliance  that  became  a  marriage  in  fact,  and  exer- 
cised an  unfortunate  influence  on  his  whole  life.  When  chil- 
dren were  born  to  him,  he  placed  them  in  the  foundling  asy- 
lum. He  himself  tells  us  about  it  in  his  famous  Confessions, 
and  shamelessly  writes  that  he  did  it  "  gaillardement  et 
sans  scrupule."  Afterwards,  on  second  thought,  he  explains 
that  neither  he  nor  their  mother  could  have  reared  them  de- 
cently. 

Rousseau  had  tried  everything,  and  succeeded  in  nothing. 
With  an  extreme  vivacity  of  imagination  his  power  of  con- 
ception so  outstripped  his  capacity  for  expression  that  he 
believed  the  calling  of  a  writer  was  unsuited  to  him.  One 

320 


ROUSSEAU 

day  he  was  informed  of  a  question  propounded  by  a  literary 
society  of  Dijon:  "  Has  the  reestablishment  of  the  arts  and 
sciences  contributed  to  corrupt  or  purify  morals?  "  This 
was  the  spark  which  fired  the  mine.  Rousseau,  bursting  for 
utterance,  exploded  his  pent-up  powers.  All  the  tumultuous 
thoughts  crowding  in  his  brain  took  form;  all  the  bitterness 
of  his  heart  overflowed.  He  wrote  rapidly  the  Discours  sur 
Us  sciences  et  les  arts,  which,  at  the  age  of  thirty-seven 
years,  opened  his  career.  In  this  work  he  maintained  that 
the  development  of  the  arts  had  served  to  corrupt  customs 
and  institutions.  The  Academy  was  astounded;  his  thesis, 
though  false  and  absurd,  was  supported  with  an  eloquence  so 
impassioned,  and  a  style  so  incomparable  that  the  prize  was 
given  to  this  enemy  of  the  sciences  and  arts,  and,  with  the  aid 
of  the  attendant  publicity,  Rousseau  found  himself  suddenty 
famous.  The  Discours  sur  les  sciences  was  followed  by  the 
Discours  sur  I'inegalite.  These  two  extraordinary  composi- 
tions rest  one  upon  the  other,  and  develop,  under  two  differ- 
ent aspects,  the  same  thought.  Rousseau,  in  his  first  work, 
condemned  the  sciences;  in  the  second,  he  even  condemned 
society.  He  held  that  the  sciences  and  arts  had  corrupted  the 
human  race.  He  regretted  the  simplicity  of  primitive  peoples 
— even  the  savage  state,  without  education  or  progress;  he 
regretted  that  the  human  race  had  ever  established  society, 
property,  inequality.  Yet  his  conclusions,  and  especially  the 
commentaries  which  he  wrote  to  defend  his  two  Discours,  are 
less  excessive  than  his  first  assertions.  He  modified  his  first 
exaggerated  statements  and  held  that  in  accordance  with 
the  very  nature  of  man,  the  savage  state  cannot  endure, 
and  that  society  and  property,  once  established,  cannot  be 
suppressed;  but  that  it  is  a  great  evil  that  moral  progress 
has  not  kept  pace  with  intellectual  and  material  progress,  and 
that  we  prefer  the  talents  to  the  virtues  of  men. 

The  Contrat  social,  ou  principes  du  droit  politique,  which 
appeared  shortly  afterwards,  hinges  on  the  same  sequence  of 
ideas.  The  subject  is  the  same  as  that  of  the  Esprit  des  Lois, 
but  the  method  is  different.  Between  the  epoch  of  savagery,  in 
which  men  were  independent  and  equal,  and  the  present  epoch 
in  which  they  are  unequal  and  dependent,  there  was  con- 
cluded, he  said,  a  tacit  contract  between  the  governed  and 
22  321 


those  governing:  the  weak  promised  to  obey  the  strong,  on 
condition  that  they  be  protected ;  the  strong  promised  to  pro- 
tect the  weak,  on  condition  that  the  weak  obeyed  them.  But, 
according  to  the  author,  the  rights  on  both  sides  are  equal: 
if  the  weak  revolt,  they  no  longer  have  the  right  to  be  pro- 
tected; if  the  strong  govern  badly,  they  no  longer  have  the 
right  to  be  obeyed.  And  this  is  revolution. 

Le  Contrat  social  is  a  work  which  mingles  dangerous  er- 
rors along  with  the  great  truths  it  contains.  However,  it 
remains  one  of  the  most  considerable  monuments  of  the  eight- 
eenth century,  and  in  it  is  explained  definitely  the  true  prin- 
ciple of  political  sovereignty.  It  has  great  celebrity,  and — 
more  or  less  thoroughly  understood — it  inspired  the  majority 
of  political  doctrines  during  the  French  Revolution.  It  has 
been  said  that  "  in  Beaumarchais  's  Figaro  one  heard  the  noise 
of  the  tumbling  walls  of  the  Bastille,  and  in  Rousseau's 
Contrat  social,  the  fall  of  the  guillotine. ' '  It  was  the  founda- 
tion of  the  politics  of  the  Jacobins  that  led  to  the  Reign  of 
Terror  with  Robespierre  at  its  head.  "  Qui  s 'oppose  a  la 
volonte  generale  doit  y  etre  contraint  par  tout  le  corps,  ce 
qui  ne  signifie  autre  chose  sinon  qu  'on  le  force  d  'etre  libre  ' ' : 
in  other  words,  political  and  religious  liberty  must  be  sacri- 
ficed to  the  general  will  (volonte  generale). 

In  the  Contrat  social,  Rousseau  also  declares  himself 
against  the  free  press.  "  Let  us  return  to  nature  "  is  the 
principle  of  the  book.  Voltaire  said  after  reading  it :  ' '  Never 
has  any  one  applied  so  much  genius  in  order  to  make  beasts 
of  us.  One  fairly  feels  the  desire  to  walk  on  all  fours." 
Rousseau,  to  exemplify  his  writings,  reformed  his  life  even 
as  to  his  costume.  Discarding  his  sword  and  his  lace  cuffs, 
he  became  "  citizen  of  Geneva,  man  of  nature,  enemy  of 
social  conventions." 

Rousseau's  Emile,  ou  de  I'education  is  a  treatise  on  educa- 
tion which  in  many  pages  bears  the  marks  of  a  philosophical 
novel.  It  begins  with  the  birth  of  the  child:  the  author 
would  have  the  mother  herself  take  care,  for  the  first  few 
years  of  its  life,  of  this  being  that  owes  her  its  existence. 
The  principle  expressed  in  the  first  sentence  sounds  the  key- 
note of  the  whole  book:  "  All  that  issues  from  the  hands  of 
the  Author  of  Nature  is  good,  all  that  is  in  the  hands  of  men. 

322 


ROUSSEAU 

is  degenerated ;  and,  the  education  given  by  society  being  bad, 
it  is  time  to  establish  a  negative  education  as  the  best,  or 
rather  the  only  good  one."  Emile  was  the  foundation  of 
modern  pedagogy.  The  first  four  books  of  this  work  are 
devoted  to  the  education  of  the  two  sexes  in  general,  then  to 
that  of  Emile  in  particular;  the  fifth  is  given  over  to  the 
education  of  woman,  and  to  Sophie,  who  has  been  chosen 
as  the  wife  of  Emile.  In  the  fourth  book,  the  famous  Pro- 
fession de  foi  du  vicaire  Savoyard,  depicts  the  religious  belief 
of  Rousseau  himself,  and  attacks  materialism  as  well  as  ortho- 
doxy. A  French  critic  says  that  Rousseau  is  more  dangerous 
than  Voltaire  and  the  Encyclopedists;  the  latter  at  once  ex- 
cite indignation,  but  Rousseau,  by  his  affectionate  and  senti- 
mental Deism  deceives  the  religious  and  sophisticates  the 
moral  feeling  by  substituting  vague  thoughts  for  the  positive 
idea  of  duty.  The  work  as  a  whole  is  full  of  fine  and  delicate 
observations  and  excellent  advice;  the  meeting  of  two  young 
people  and  the  awakening  of  their  sentiments  are  the  occa- 
sions of  naive  and  charming  scenes.  It  closes  with  the  mar- 
riage of  Emile  and  Sophie.  Later,  Rousseau  continued  the 
story  of  ]5mile,  who  becomes  counselor  for  the  Bey  in  Algiers ; 
but  it  came  to  no  conclusion.  The  book  had  a  salutary  influ- 
ence on  the  mode  of  education  for  children,  which  at  that 
time  was  false.  The  great  apostle  of  education,  Pestalozzi, 
grew  up  in  the  atmosphere  of  Rousseau's  teachings,  and  ap- 
plied in  practice  his  theories.  Goethe  called  Emile  the 
' '  Naturevangelium  der  Erziehung. ' ' 1 

Rousseau  composed  Emile  at  the  "  Ermitage, "  at  the  en- 
trance of  the  forest  of  Montmorency,  which  Madame  d'Epinay 
had  offered  him,  where  he  spent  five  years  copying  music  for 
a  living.  He  closed  his  doors  to  all  the  world,  even  to  his 
old  friends  of  Paris:  Voltaire,  Baron  Grimm,  Diderot,  and 
d'Holbach.  A  quarrel  with  Madame  d'Epinay  made  the  fur- 
ther occupation  of  the  "  Ermitage  "  impossible  and  he  ac- 
cepted the  offer  of  the  Duke  of  Luxembourg,  who  placed  the 
chateau  of  Montlouis  at  his  disposal.  Rousseau's  Lettre  ft 
d'Alembert  sur  les  spectacles  was  his  dismissal  from  the  En- 
cyclopedists and  his  declaration  of  war  against  the  whole 

1  Nature-gospel  of  Education. 
323 


THE    HISTORY   OF    FRENCH   LITERATURE 

party.  The  first  book  which  solitude  inspired  him  to  write 
was  the  celebrated  epistolary  novel,  Julie,  ou  la  Nouvelle 
Relo'ise.  It  recalls  the  love  of  Heloi'se  and  Abelard,  and  is 
concerned  with  the  affections  and  the  lives  of  two  young  peo- 
ple, Julie  and  Saint-Preux.  The  scene  is  laid  in  Clarens,  on 
Lake  Geneva.  Rousseau  has  taken  Richardson's  "  Clarissa  " 
as  his  model  for  this  story,  but  Julie  in  turn  served  as  a  model 
for  Goethe's  Werther.  Rousseau  himself  passes  a  judgment 
on  this  book  in  his  preface:  "  Ce  livre  n'est  point  fait  pour 
cireuler  dans  le  monde;  il  convient  a  tres  peu  de  lecteurs. 
Toute  fille  qui  aura  lu  une  page  de  ce  livre  est  une  fille 
perdue."  *  Vinet  says :  "  Ni  1'eclat  du  style  ni  les  admirables 
descriptions  de  la  nature  ne  pourront  jamais  racheter  Fim- 
moralite  de  cet  ouvrage  qu'il  est  prudent  et  sage  de  ne  jamais 
ouvrir,  comme  1  'auteur  lui  meme  d  'ailleurs  nous  le  conseille. ' ' 2 
The  novel  had,  however,  an  unheard-of  success.  Love  spoke 
a  language  unknown  to  the  eighteenth  century  and  to  modern 
literature.  All  hearts  were  profoundly  affected;  all  women 
were  henceforth  on  the  side  of  Rousseau.  In  the  other  novels 
of  the  time,  women  were  capricious  and  charming  beings,  not 
to  be  taken  seriously.  Rousseau,  on  the  contrary,  placed  them 
on  a  pedestal,  and  showed  them  as  always  superior  to  men. 
For  three  quarters  of  a  century  he  remained  their  favorite 
author. 

A  French  critic  writes:  "  In  his  Essay  on  the  Origin  of 
Languages,  instead  of  condemning  society,  as  he  had  done  in 
his  Discours,  Rousseau  seeks  its  origin,  and  pictures  its  begin- 
nings with  marvelous  divination.  He  shows  that  at  the  outset, 
words,  poetry,  music,  and  the  expression  of  the  feelings  and 
of  ideas  and  forms  by  gesture,  were  one.  Primitive  languages 
were  sung,  and  gestures  gave  birth  to  the  art  of  design  and 
sculpture.  Rousseau  continued  to  express  in  this  book,  his 
preference  for  the  poetic  existence  of  pastoral  tribes  in  the 
ancient  Orient  to  modern  civilization ;  but  he  no  longer  spoke 

1  "This  book  is  not  made  to  circulate  in  the  world;  it  is  suitable  for 
very  few  readers.     Any  girl  who  has  read  a  page  of  this  book  is  a  ruined 
girl. 

2  Neither  the  brilliancy  of  style  nor  the  admirable  descriptions  of  nature 
could  ever  redeem  the  immorality  of  this  work,  which  it  would  be  prudent 
never  to  open,  as  indeed  the  author  warns  us." 

324 


EOUSSEAU 

of  savage  life,  which  is  only  animal  life,  beyond  which  man  is 
naturally  drawn  by  the  principle  of  perfectibility  that  re- 
sides in  him,  as  Rousseau  recognizes. ' ' 

After  Emile,  persecution  burst  upon  Rousseau.  Royalty 
and  clergy  felt  themselves  touched  to  the  quick.  The  Pro- 
fession de  foi  du  vicaire  Savoyard  (one  of  the  most  remarkable 
episodes  of  fimile,  in  which  Rousseau  sought  to  prove  the 
necessity  of  a  completely  personal  religion)  was  strongly 
criticised  by  the  Catholic  clergy  as  well  as  by  Protestant 
pastors.  Rousseau  replied  to  these  criticisms  with  a  letter 
entitled,  Jean-Jacques  Rousseau  a  Cliristoplie  de  Beaumont 
(Archbishop  of  Paris).  Faithful  to  the  device  which  he  had 
adopted — Vitam  impendere  vero  (sacrifice  your  life  to  truth), 
he  did  not  hide  himself  under  false  names,  but  signed  every- 
thing that  he  wrote.  Emile  was  denounced  by  the  parliament 
of  Paris,  by  the  Sorbonne,  and  by  the  archbishop,  and  was 
ordered  to  be  burned  by  the  hangman.  A  warrant  of  arrest 
was  issued  against  him;  but  certain  great  personages  facil- 
itated his  escape.  Those  who  were  charged  with  his  arrest 
saluted  him,  and  smiled  when  he  left  his  house;  and  were 
content  to  report  that  when  they  had  presented  themselves 
at  his  home  he  was  no  longer  there.  Rousseau  retired  to 
Switzerland,  where  he  found  refuge  in  the  village  of  Motiers- 
Travers  near  Neuchatel,  and  a  friendly  welcome  from  Marshal 
George  Keith,  the  governor  of  the  province.  Here  he  wrote 
the  political  pamphlet  Lettres  de  la  Montagne,  a  masterpiece 
of  dialectics  and  fine  irony  in  answer  to  Tronchin's  Lettres 
de  la  Campagne.  The  intrigues  of  his  enemies  aroused  some 
of  the  fanatic  peasants  to  attack  his  house,  and  Rousseau  was 
driven  from  the  village.  The  same  proscription  awaited  him 
everywhere.  Forced  to  abandon  Jiis  sojourn  in  the  little  isle 
of  Saint-Pierre,  in  the  middle  of  the  Lake  of  Bienne  (im- 
mortalized by  his  delightful  sketch  of  it),  whither  he  had 
retired  to  avoid  the  annoyances  imposed  on  him  in  the  village, 
he  was  about  to  accept  an  invitation  from  Frederick  II  of 
Prussia,  but  yielded  to  David  Hume's  urgent  invitation  to  live 
in  England.  He  was  most  kindly  received  by  George  III, 
whb  gave  him  a  pension,  and  Hume  established  him  in  the 
County  of  Derby.  Unfortunately,  Rousseau,  always  distrust- 
ful, quarreled  with  the  great  Englishman,  and  left  his  place 

325 


THE    HISTORY   OF   FRENCH   LITERATURE 

of  retirement  very  suddenly.  He  then  returned  to  France, 
where  he  was  received  with  enthusiasm.  The  Prince  of  Conti 
established  him  in  a  residence  at  Trie-le-Chateau ;  but  again 
his  morbid  susceptibilities  got  the  better  of  him,  and  he  re- 
mained there  only  two  months.  Thence  he  went  to  Lyons, 
to  Grenoble,  to  Chambery,  finally  to  Paris — his  misanthropy 
increasing  the  while.  "Without  having  entirely  renounced  the 
world,  he  resolved  not  to  write  any  more.  However,  he  took 
up  the  pen  again  to  work  out  a  book  unfortunately  only  too 
celebrated — the  Confessions  (1766-1770),  an  autobiography 
in  which,  with  infinite  literary  art,  he  said  of  himself,  in  all 
sincerity,  everything  good  and  everything  evil  that  can  be 
said,  revealing  his  most  secret  faults  as  well  as  his  inmost 
thoughts.  The  Confessions  is  not  an  edifying  book.  In  it 
Rousseau  avows  with  unabashed  frankness  all  his  faults,  as 
the  only  expiation  which  he  could  impose  upon  himself.  He 
says,  "  J'ai  ete  puni  ou  j'ai  peche  ";  but  he  writes  without 
humility,  in  fact  with  defiance,  as  the  very  beginning  of  the 
book  shows :  ' '  May  the  trumpet  sound  the  last  judgment  day 
when  it  will,  and  I  shall  then  appear  with  this  book  in  my 
hands  to  present  myself  before  the  Almighty  Judge.  I  shall 
say  loudly :  '  This  is  what  I  have  done,  this  is  what  I  thought, 
this  is  what  I  was.  .  .  .  Eternal  Being,  gather  about  me  the 
numberless  throng  of  my  fellow  creatures  ...  let  anyone 
of  these  dare  say :  "  I  was  better  than  this  man. ' ' 

Rousseau's  cynical  pride  is  monumental,  but  as  to  style  the 
work  is  admirable.  How  many  pages  are  replete  with  fresh- 
ness ;  what  heartiness  of  description  in  all  his  youthful  adven- 
tures, in  his  walks  in  which  he  is  so  well  able  to  transmit  to  us 
his  passionate  love  of  nature !  This  work  was  begun  in  Eng- 
land, at  the  time  when  his  mind  was  already  disturbed;  but 
his  sinister  visions  of  the  present  did  not  obscure  the  charm  of 
his  reminiscences.  Seized  with  that  sad  affection,  both  moral 
and  physical,  which  is  called  hypochondria,  or  the  black 
sickness,  and  magnifying  to  himself  the  enmities  which  he 
had  incurred  by  his  double  war  against  priests  and  atheists, 
he  imagined  himself  to  be  the  object  of  universal  hatred, 
and  put  no  faith  in  the  sincere  sympathy  and  homage  that 
people  were  ready  to  accord  him.  His  state  of  mind, 
aggravated  by  sad  infirmities,  made  his  last  years  quite  pain- 

326 


KOUSSEAU 

ful,  but  with  his  genius  always  brilliant,  he  wrote  the  painful 
dialogues  of  Rousseau  juge  de  Jean  Jacques,  and  his  Reveries 
du  promeneur  solitaire  (1777-1778).  Having  lived  since  his 
return  to  Paris  for  eight  years  in  a  humble  dwelling,  he  finally 
accepted  from  a  friend,  M.  de  Girardin,  a  refuge  more  in  con- 
formity with  his  tastes  than  the  tumultuous  streets  of  Paris 
— a  refuge  in  a  beautiful  part  of  the  country,  at  Ermenon- 
ville.  A  month  later  he  died  (1778),  without  anyone  being 
able  to  determine  whether  his  death  was  accidental  or  de- 
liberate suicide. 

Rousseau  worked  a  revolution  in  literature  and  morals. 
The  licentious  superficiality  which,  until  then,  had  char- 
acterized writers,  disappeared  entirely;  men  began  to  extol 
virtue,  the  countryside,  nature,  love  of  country,  and  of 
humanity;  woman  again  won  respect,  and  family  life  was 
again  in  a  position  of  honor.  Voltaire  himself,  who  violently 
attacked  this  "  barbarian  of  eloquence, 'r  as  he  called  him, 
attributed  to  the  influence  of  the  Genevese  philosopher  the 
renewal  of  his  own  talent.  From  Rousseau  proceeded  Roman- 
ticism; he  introduced  new  qualities  into  literature;  for  the 
spirit  of  analysis  he  substituted  love  and  the  cult  of  nature, 
passionate  eloquence  and  personal  exaltation;  also,  he  laid 
bare  that  lamentable  vein  of  melancholy  and  restlessness 
called  in  the  nineteenth  century,  mal  du  siecle.  No  writer 
of  the  eighteenth  century  has  attained  that  poetic  sublimity 
compounded  with  falseness  and  destructiveness.  No  one 
helped  so  much  to  emancipate  the  human  mind  from  the 
shackles  of  despotism;  but  neither  has  anyone  contributed 
more  to  the  destruction  of  the  fundamental  idea  of  true 
liberty.  In  politics  he  undermined  the  ancient  institutions, 
and  gave  the  coup  de  grace  to  royalty  by  popularizing 
republican  ideas.  In  religion  he  rejected  all  revealed  author- 
ity, but  defended  the  dogmas  of  the  existence  of  God  and 
the  immortality  of  the  soul,  and  was  an  adversary  of  atheism 
and  materialism.  Unfortunately  his  life  was  a  tangle  of  in- 
consistencies, as  his  works  were  a  tangle  of  paradoxes  and 
sophisms.  A  whole  school  of  writers  depends  from  Rousseau 
— among  them:  Bernardin  de  St.  Pierre,  Madame  de  Stae'l, 
Chateaubriand.  Lamartine,  George  Sand. 

327 


CHAPTER   XXI 

THE   ENCYCLOPEDISTS 

ONE  of  the  greatest  literary  enterprises  of  the  eighteenth 
century  was  the  famous  French  Encyclopedic.  The  incentive 
to  this  work  originated  in  a  French  translation  of  Chambers's 
Cyclopedia*  by  John  Mills  and  Gottfried  Sellins,  both  resi- 
dents of  Paris.  Jean  Paul  de  Gua  de  Halves,  professor  of 
philosophy  in  the  College  of  France,  was  engaged  as  editor 
to  correct  errors  and  add  new  discoveries,  but  owing  to  some 
dispute  he  withdrew  and  the  publisher  offered  the  task  to 
Diderot,  who  persuaded  the  editor  to  undertake  an  original  and 
more  comprehensive  work. 

In  1740  was  granted  the  royal  privilege  for  the  Encyclo- 
pedic which  began  to  appear  in  1751  under  the  title  of 
Encyclopedic,  ou  Dictionnaire  raisonne  des  sciences,  des  arts 
des  metiers,  par  une  societe  de  gens  de  lettres.  (Methodical 
Dictionary  of  the  Sciences,  Arts  and  Trades,  by  a  Society  of 
Men  of  Letters. )  The  first  edition  numbered  4,250  copies  which 
were  quickly  sold.  It  was  a  scientific  monument  that  con- 
tained a  history  of  philosophy,  and  the  technical  description 
of  all  the  arts  and  occupations  practiced  in  France  at  this 
time.  It  was  also  an  instrument  of  war.  All  the  innovators 
and  free  thinkers  who  wished  to  modify  society  from  a  reli- 
gious or  political  standpoint  united  to  work  out  new  theories 
and  destroy  beliefs  of  the  past.  It  became  identified  with 
the  philosophic  movement  of  the  time,  and  the  term  Encyclo- 
pediste  became  recognized  as  designating  a  certain  form  of 
philosophy.  The  "  Preliminary  Discourse,"  written  by 
d'Alembert  is  an  admirable  synthetic  picture  of  human 

1  The  most  ancient  encyclopedia  extant  is  the  Natural  History  in 
thirty-seven  books  by  Pliny,  first  century  after  Christ. 

328 


THE    ENCYCLOPEDISTS 

knowledge,  and  constitutes  one  of  the  chief  philosophical 
works  of  the  eighteenth  century.  D'Alembert  also  wrote  the 
treatises  on  Mathematics.  Voltaire,  Montesquieu,  Buffon,  and 
Rousseau  who  took  music  and  philosophy  for  his  theme,  all 
contributed  largely  to  the  Encyclopedic  during  a  period  of 
ten  years.  Mallet  wrote  on  theology  and  history,  Yvon  on 
logic  and  ethics.  Daubenton  furnished  articles  on  natural 
history,  Marmontel  on  literary  subjects;  the  Abbe  Bergier 
treated  theology ;  the  classification  of  the  sciences  was  provided 
by  the  Englishman,  Bacon.  Louis  wrote  on  surgery,  Eidons 
on  heraldry  and  art,  Toussaint  on  jurisprudence,  La  Con- 
damine  on  South  America,  Turgot  on  economics.  These  men, 
together  with  other  contributors — Condillac,  Helvetius,  d 'Hoi- 
bach,  Baron  Grimm,  Volney — were  known  as  the  Encyclo- 
pedists. Diderot  performed  a  giant's  work;  besides  assigning 
to  himself  the  subject  of  ancient  philosophy,  he  superintended 
everything,  including  the  corrections  and  the  engravings,  and 
wrote  numerous  articles  on  the  arts  and  trades.  No  writer 
knew  the  processes  of  the  mechanical  arts;  so  Diderot  took 
this  task  upon  himself.  He  went  among  the  workshops,  seeking 
explanations,  examining  the  working  of  machines,  and  even 
going  to  work  himself  in  order  to  feel  assured  that  he  had 
understood  perfectly;  then,  returning  home,  he  would  write 
down  what  he  had  observed.  Besides  all  this,  he  was  ever 
ready  to  help  with  his  facile  pen  his  numerous  friends,  and 
thus  much  of  what  they  did  is  due  to  him. 

The  Encyclopedic  was  the  object  of  the  most  violent  per- 
secution by  the  church  and  government,  and  its  publication 
was  in  turn  permitted  and  forbidden.  In  1749  Diderot  was 
imprisoned  at  Vincennes  for  a  short  time.  After  his  release 
the  work  continued;  but  in  1759  the  privilege  was  again  re- 
voked, and  d'Alembert  retired  in  the  face  of  all  these  dif- 
ficulties. In  1765  the  printer,  Lebreton,  was  put  into  the 
Bastille,  and  a  royal  order  was  sent  to  the  subscribers  to 
deliver  their  copies  to  the  agents  of  the  police.  Owing  to  the 
protection  of  Madame  de  Pompadour,  of  the  bookseller,  of 
Lamoignon  de  Malesherbe,  Quesnay,  and  of  the  Prefect  of 
police  de  Sartines,  the  Encyclopedia  continued  publication. 
Voltaire  relates  that  at  a  supper  of  the  king's  at  the  Trianon, 
there  arose  a  debate  on  the  composition  of  gunpowder,  and 

329 


THE    HISTORY   OF    FRENCH   LITERATURE 

Madame  de  Pompadour  said  she  did  not  know  how  her  rouge 
or  her  silk  stockings  were  made.  The  Due  de  La  Valliere 
regretted  that  the  king  had  confiscated  the  encyclopedias  as 
they  would  have  furnished  the  required  information  and 
settled  the  dispute.  The  king  sent  for  a  copy,  and  three 
servants  with  difficulty  brought  in  twenty-one  volumes.  The 
required  information  was  found,  and  the  king  allowed  all 
the  confiscated  copies  to  be  returned.  The  Encyclopedia  also 
suffered  atrocious  mutilation  at  the  hands  of  the  printer, 
Lebreton.  Grimm  tells  us  that  in  printing  the  last  ten 
volumes,  Lebreton  had  the  articles  set  in  type  just  as  the 
authors  sent  them  in,  and  when  Diderot  had  corrected  the 
last  proof  of  each  sheet,  the  printer  secretly  cut  out  whatever 
seemed  to  him  daring  or  likely  to  give  offense,  burning  the 
manuscript  as  he  proceeded.  Most  of  the  best  articles  were 
ruined,  and  Diderot  only  accidentally  discovered  this  fraud 
in  referring  to  one  of  his  back  articles. 

The  Encyclopedic  was  not  constructed  on  a  regular  plan ; 
many  of  the  articles  are  excellent  and  some  are  inferior  and 
faulty,  but  it  was  an  interesting  and  comprehensive  work  of 
great  political  importance,  and  held  a  conspicuous  place  in  the 
civil  and  literary  history  of  the  century. 

THE  PHYSIOCRATES 

Francois  Quesnay  was  the  principal  founder  of  political 
economy,  and  the  chief  of  the  school  of  physiocrats  (econo- 
mists) ,  a  group  of  French  philosophers  and  political  economists 
who  achieved  great  prominence  in  the  latter  part  of  the 
eighteenth  century.  The  Physiocrates  considered  the  cultiva- 
tion of  the  land  as  the  chief  source  of  national  wealth.  Ac- 
cording to  Quesnay  there  are  certain  economic  laws  to  which 
the  legislator  must  adapt  himself.  All  autocratic  interference 
with  the  laws  of  production  and  exchange  is  detrimental, 
hence  the  famous  maxim  of  de  Gournay :  Laissez  f aire,  laissez 
passer.  Quesnay  published  his  ideas  on  economics  in  the 
Encyclopedic  in  1756.  The  name  Physiocracy  (from  the 
Greek  "  supremacy  of  nature  ")  was  first  given  to  the  doctrine 
in  1767  by  Dupont  de  Nemours. 

Physiocracy  was  defended  by  the  Marquis  de  Mirabeau 

330 


THE    ENCYCLOPEDISTS 

(the  elder),  Dupont  de  Nemours,  Mercier  de  la  Riviere.  The 
greatest  man  inspired  by  these  principles  was  Anne-Robert- 
Jacques  Turgot,  Baron  de  L'Aulne  who  not  only  aided  in  a 
literary  way  in  his  Reflexions  sur  la  formation  et  la  distribu- 
tion des  Richesses,  but  also  practically  worked  for  this  system. 
Brunetiere  notes  the  difference  between  the  encyclopedists 
and  the  economists :  ' '  the  encyclopedists  are  theorists  and 
rationalists;  the  economists,  empiricists  or  utilitarians." 

DIDEROT 

Denis  Diderot  (1713-1784),  the  son  of  a  cutler  of  Langres 
— a  philosopher,  an  author  of  inexhaustible  fertility,  endowed 
with  a  brilliant  imagination  and  an  incredible  capacity  for 
work — is  perhaps  the  most  powerful  genius,  the  most  marked 
personality  of  his  time,  and  the  man  who  best  sums  up  the 
philosophic  aspirations  of  the  eighteenth  century.  It  is,  how- 
ever, only  lately,  with  the  appearance  of  a  complete  edition 
of  his  works  by  Assezat,  that  Diderot's  genius  has  been  fully 
recognized.  Born  and  reared  a  Catholic,  his  writings  show 
at  various  stages  his  gradual  change  from  Orthodoxy  to  Ma- 
terialism. In  his  Essai  sur  la  verite  et  la  vertu  (1745),  he 
attacks  atheism;  his  Pensees  philosophiques  (1748)  show  him 
a  deist  without  fixed  religious  belief ;  and  in  his  Lettre  sur  les 
Aveugles  he  is  a  decided  materialist.  In  the  latter  work  he 
forestalls  Darwin's  principles  of  evolution  and  of  the  survival 
of  the  fittest.  His  stories  Les  Bijoux  indiscrets,  La  Religieuse, 
have  been  much  censured,  but  they  were  written  during  the 
reign  of  the  reprobate  Louis  XV.  The  novel  Jacques  le 
Fataliste,  an  imitation  of  Sterne's  Tristram  Shandy,  was 
taken  by  Sardou  as  a  model  for  his  thrilling  play,  Fernande. 
Le  neveu  de  Rameau  became  known  to  Germany  before  it  was 
read  in  France,  owing  to  its  translation  by  Goethe,  who  had  a 
copy  of  the  original  manuscript.  The  German  translation  was 
in  turn  translated  into  French  before  the  edition  from  the 
original  manuscript  appeared  some  eighteen  years  later. 

Diderot  created  artistic  criticism  by  his  famous  Salons 
(1765-67),  written  in  response  to  the  request  of  Baron 
Grimm  that  he  write  some  lines  for  a  manuscript  journal, 
that  was  being  sent  to  Germanw,  concerning  pictures  ex- 

331 


THE    HISTORY   OF    FRENCH   LITERATURE 

hibited  every  year  in  Paris.  It  is  in  his  Contes  especially 
that  Diderot  exhibits  great  power.  Here  we  find,  among  other 
little  stories  told  in  a  charming  manner,  the  original  on  which 
Krylov  (the  Russian  La  Fontaine)  drew  for  his  fable,  "  The 
Ass  and  the  Nightingale."  Two  pathetic  tales  are  Les  deux 
amis  de  Bourbonne,  and  L'Histoire  de  Mademoiselle  de  La 
Chaux  et  du  docteur  Gardeil. 

It  is  said  that  Diderot,  in  order  to  help  a  poor  young 
writer,  once  wrote  a  satire  directed  against  himself  and 
addressed  to  the  Due  d 'Orleans,  who  hated  him;  and  thereby 
gained  for  the  indigent  author  the  duke's  approval  and  a 
substantial  sum  of  money.  Some  of  his  critical  essays  are 
fascinating,  though  lavish  and  superlative  in  praise,  and  of 
annihilating  severity  in  censure.  In  this  genre  he  occupied 
the  place  in  France  that  Leasing  held  in  Germany.  Among 
his  best  essays  are :  Reflexions  sur  les  femmes;  Regrets  sur  ma 
vieille  robe  de  chambre;  Eloge  de  Richardson  (his  favorite 
author).  Of  women  he  says:  "  Quand  on  veut  ecrire  sur  les 
femmes,  il  faut  tremper  sa  plume  dans  l'arc-en-ciel  et  secouer 
sur  sa  ligne  la  poussiere  des  ailes  du  papillon."1  Diderot 
was  a  very  versatile  writer ;  his  works  embrace  novels,  dramas, 
critiques,  history,  philosophy,  scientific  works,  and  an  ex- 
tremely interesting  correspondence.  One  of  the  most  valuable 
documents  of  the  social  life  of  the  eighteenth  century  is  his 
correspondence,  during  twenty  years,  with  Mademoiselle 
Voland.  His  dramas,  Le  fils  naturel,  after  Goldoni's  comedy 
11  vero  amico,  and  Le  pere  de  famille,  are  his  weakest  produc- 
tions; but  though  these  plays  left  no  impression  in  France, 
they  were  the  inspiration  for  the  "  tearful  comedies  "  (come- 
dies larmoyantes)  cultivated  in  Germany  by  Kotzebue,  Iffland, 
and  Schroeder.  Diderot  possessed  the  power  of  depicting  the 
extraordinary,  along  with  a  rare  sense  of  living  reality,  and  a 
remarkable  ability  for  portraying  the  true  family  life  of  the 
people.  In  these  respects  he  greatly  influenced  Lessing,  who 
acknowledged  the  indebtedness  and  made  it  clear  in  his 
dramas,  Emilia  Galotti  and  Miss  Sara  Sampson. 

Diderot  once  appeared  in  St.  Petersburg,  at  the  invitation 

1  "When  one  wishes  to  write  about  women  he  must  dip  his  pen  in  the 
rainbow  and  sand  his  line  with  the  down  from  the  wings  of  the  butterfly." 

332 


THE    ENCYCLOPEDISTS 

of  Empress  Catherine;  and  philosopher  and  empress  were 
mutually  charmed.  Later,  knowing  that  Diderot  was  in  need, 
the  empress  bought  his  library,  and  gave  him  an  annual 
pension  for  taking  care  of  it. 

Jean-le-Rond  D'Alembert  (1717-83),  the  assiduous  col- 
laborator and  friend  of  Diderot,  had  nothing  of  his  confrere's 
fiery  character ;  he  was  of  quite  the  opposite  nature.  D  'Alem- 
bert  was  found  when  a  child  under  the  steps  of  the  church  of 
Jean-le-Rond  near  Notre-Dame,  in  Paris;  and  was  therefore 
christened  Jean-le-Rond.  As  he  was  puny,  the  police,  instead 
of  putting  him  in  the  asylum  for  foundlings,  turned  him  over 
to  be  cared  for  by  the  wife  of  a  glazier  in  the  neighborhood. 
It  transpired  later  that  his  mother  was  Madame  de  Tencin, 
the  author  of  several  esteemed  novels.  Meanwhile,  the  assist- 
ance which  the  glazier  secretly  received  enabled  him  to  give 
the  child  a  good  education ;  and  the  grateful  boy,  on  becoming 
a  man,  continued  to  live  with  his  foster  parents,  even  when 
he  had  achieved  fame.  After  he  had  achieved  celebrity,  his 
mother,  Madame  de  Tencin,  made  herself  known  to  him,  and 
wished  to  have  him  with  her ;  but  the  young  philosopher,  little 
touched  by  this  tardy  recognition,  did  not  hesitate  a  moment 
in  answering :  "  Madame,  my  real  mother  is  the  glazier's  wife. 
I  know  no  other."  D'Alembert 's  talents  and  character  won 
for  him  a  high  place  among  the  writers  of  his  time.  Enjoying 
a  merited  consideration,  and  attaining  an  honest  and  sufficient 
fortune,  he  saw,  gathered  in  his  drawing-room,  the  most  dis- 
tinguished politicians,  soldiers,  writers,  of  whom  Paris  could 
boast.  His  reputation,  however,  was  due  less  to  his  achieve- 
ments as  a  man  of  letters  than  to  his  scholarship,  and  to  his 
prowess  in  the  mathematical  sciences,  of  which  he  made  a 
specialty,  and  to  which  he  contributed  important  discoveries. 
Besides  his  share  in  the  Encyclopedic,  d'Alembert  wrote  the 
Elements  de  Philosophic,  in  four  volumes,  and  the  Eloges  of 
the  scholars  whom  he  had  survived — eulogies  rich  in  curious 
anecdotes  well  told.  A  man  of  wisdom,  of  moderate  ambitions, 
he  declined  the  tutorship  of  Paul,  son  of  Catherine  II — to 
which  was  attached  a  pension  of  one  hundred  thousand  livres ; 
he  refused  the  presidency  of  the  Academy  of  Sciences  at 
Berlin,  proffered  by  Frederick  II — content  with  the  honors 
afforded  him  by  the  French  Academy  and  by  the  Academic 

333 


THE    HISTORY   OP    FRENCH    LITERATURE 

des  Sciences,  of  which  he  was  life  secretary.  His  numerous 
letters  to  Voltaire,  of  which  a  part  are  found  in  Voltaire's 
published  correspondence,  <Jo  the  greatest  honor  to  his  in- 
telligence, his  character,  and  his  pen. 

Frederic  Melchior,  baron  de  Grimm  (1723-1807),  a  French 
writer  and  critic  of  German  origin,  was  a  collaborator  of  Di- 
derot, and  friend  of  all  the  great  French  writers  during  his 
long  residence  in  Paris.  His  Correspondance  litteraire,  philo- 
sophique  et  critique  written  in  French  comprises  seventeen 
volumes *  and  covers  the  period  from  1753  to  1790.  At  first 
this  correspondence  was  in  the  form  of  bulletins  addressed  to 
the  Duchess  of  Saxony-Gotha,  who  wished  information  as  to 
the  literary  works  of  the  French.  Many  of  the  letters  were 
also  sent  to  the  Empress  of  Russia,  the  Queen  of  Sweden,  to 
the  King  of  Prussia,  and  to  the  King  of  Poland.  Later  the 
correspondence  became  a  great  collection,  and  some  other 
writers  contributed,  principally  Diderot  with  his  Salons.  It 
moreover  became  the  organ  of  the  Encyclopedists  for  the  for- 
eign monarchs ;  it  included  excellent  sketches  of  the  literature 
of  art,  of  music,  of  the  authors,  actors,  and  celebrities  of  the 
court,  and  proved  an  inexhaustible  treasure  of  anecdotes  and 
criticisms  on  these  themes. 

Marie-Jean-Antoine-Nicolas  Caritat,  marquis  de  Condorcet 
(1743-94),  was  an  Encyclopedist  and  the  organizer  of  the 
French  system  of  public  instruction.  His  writings  included 
scientific,  economical,  political  works,  eulogies,  sketches,  mem- 
oirs, and  correspondence.  During  the  Revolution  he  was  an 
enthusiastic  Girondist.  After  the  fall  of  his  party,  he  found 
refuge  during  eight  months  in  the  house  of  a  friend  where  he 
wrote  many  of  his  works,  the  most  important  of  which  is  his 
Esquisse  d'un  tableau  historique  des  progres  de  I'esprit 
humain  (1794).  Finally  arrested,  Condorcet  poisoned  himself 
in  his  prison. 

1  Best  edition  by  Maurice  Tourneux,  1882. 


CHAPTER   XXII 

TRAGEDY,    COMEDY,    "  TEARFUL  "   DRAMA,     POETRY,    THE    NOVEL, 

AFTER  Voltaire  tragedy  languished,  surviving  only  in 
feeble  imitations  until  the  genre  exhausted  itself  and  the 
drama  took  its  place.  Nevertheless,  for  many  years  the  poets 
who  essayed  tragedy  were  as  numerous  as  they  were  mediocre. 
As  for  comedy — a  new  school  proceeding  from  Diderot  broke 
away  from  the  classic  model  and  counted  many  disciples: 
Sedaine,  Mercier,  Lemercier,  D'Arnaud,  Beaumarchais,  and 
others  who  prepared  the  way  for  the  gloomy  melodrama 
of  Caigniez,  Du  Cange  and  Pixerecourt  followed  by  the  great 
romantic  movement. 

Michel  Jean  Sedaine  (1719-97),  life  secretary  of  the 
Royal  Academy  of  Architecture,  was  one  of  the  most  modest 
and  charming  of  men.  Illiterate,  and  absolutely  incapable  of 
drawing  his  works  from  a  source  other  than  himself,  Voltaire 
said  to  him:  "  Then  it  is  you,  Monsieur,  who  never  borrow 
from  anyone?  "  "  I  am  no  richer  than  if  I  had  done  so," 
answered  Sedaine. 

Michel  Jean  Sedaine *  contributed  two  pretty  comedies  to 
the  Theatre-Frangais — La  Gageure  imprevue  and  Le  Philoso- 
phe  sans  le  savoir.  George  Sand  wrote  a  sequel  to  his  comedy 
Le  Philosophe  sans  le  savoir,  with  the  title,  Le  Manage  de 
Victorine.  Sedaine  wrote  many  comic  operas — among  them, 
Aucassin  et  Nicolette  and  Richard  C&ur  de  Lion,  in  which 
occurs  the  famous  couplet: 

!•• 

O  Richard!    0  mon  roi! 
L'univers  t'abandonne; 
Sur  la  terre  il  n'est  que  moi 

1  Alfred  de  Vigny  introduced  him  into  one  of  his  prettiest  contes:  La 
VeilUe  de  Vincennes. 

335 


THE    HISTORY   OP   FRENCH   LITERATURE 

Qui  m'interesse  a  ta  personne. 
Je  voudrais  briser  tes  fers, 
Et  tout  le  reste  t'abandonne.1 

This  was  the  favorite  song  of  the  royalists  during  the 
imprisonment  of  Louis  XVI ;  and  it  cost  many  an  imprudent 
singer  his  head. 

Louis-Sebastien  Mercier  's  comedies  depicted  modern  society 
and  the  people.  His  Deserteur  earned  for  him  the  protection 
of  Marie- Antoinette  and  a  pension.  In  his  Essai  sur  I'art 
dramatique  he  declared  war  against  the  classics  and  continued 
with  a  bitter  criticism  of  them  in  his  Mon  Bonnet  de  Nuit. 

Louis-Jean  Nepomucene  Lemercier  at  the  age  of  seventeen 
became  a  literary  celebrity  with  the  representation  of  his 
tragedy  Meleagre  at  the  Theatre-Frangais.  His  comedy  Pinto 
was  the  first  French  historical  comedy. 

Frangois  Thomas  Marie  de  Baculard  D'Arnaud  wrote 
four  plays,  only  one  of  which  was  produced.  He  was  the 
author  of  many  poems,  novels,  and  sacred  odes,  one  of  which 
the  Lamentations  de  Jeremie  called  forth  a  satirical  quatrain 
of  Voltaire : 

Savez-vous  pourquoi  J6r6mie 

A  tant  pleure  pendant  sa  vie? 

C'est  qu'en  prophete  il  prevoyait 

Que  Baculard  le  traduirait." 

Pierre  Augustin  Caron  (better  known  as  Beaumarchais), 
born  at  Paris  in  1732  (died  in  1799) ,  was  not  only  a  writer ;  he 
combined,  as  he  says  himself,  the  love  of  letters  with  that  of 
affairs — manufacturing  supplies  and  making  plays,  prosecut- 
ing lawsuits  and  diplomacy,  all  at  the  same  time.  The  son  of  a 
watchmaker,  he  practiced  for  a  time  the  calling  of  his  father, 
and  even  invented  an  improvement  in  the  mechanism  of 
watches.  As  a  musician,  his  proficiency  on  the  harp,  and  his 

1  O  Richard,  O  my  king!  The  world  abandons  thee;  on  earth  I  alone 
am  interested  in  thy  welfare.  I  would  break  thy  chains — all  the  rest 
abandoning  thee. 

J  Do  you  know  why  Jeremiah 
Wept  so  much  during  his  lifetime? 
It  is  because,  being  a  prophet,  he  foresaw 
That  Baculard  would  translate  him. 

336 


TRAGEDY,  COMEDY,  POETRY  AND   THE   NOVEL 

beautiful  voice  caused  him  to  be  called  upon  to  give  lessons 
to  the  sisters  of  Louis  XV,  who  appointed  him  leader  of  their 
little  concerts  at  court.  He  also  ingratiated  himself  with 
the  great  banker  and  financier,  Paris  Duverney,  who  had 
founded  a  military  school  and  had  made  many  unsuccessful 
attempts  to  obtain  royal  approval  of  it  by  a  visit  from  the 
king.  Caron,  with  the  aid  of  the  princesses,  prevailed  upon 
the  king  to  visit  the  school,  and  Duverney,  in  gratitude,  al- 
lowed his  intercessor  to  share  in  several  large  ventures  that 
brought  him  immense  wealth.  Caron,  moreover,  married  a 
rich  woman,  and  soon  added  the  name  Beaumarchais  (the 
title  of  one  of  his  wife's  estates)  to  his  own,  prefixing  a  de 
which  he  bought  for  a  round  sum.  * '  I  am  a  noble, ' '  he  said, 
11  for  I  have  the  receipt  for  it." 

The  acquisition  of  his  title  excited  some  ridicule,  but  he 
warded  off  all  insults  by  his  prowess  as  a  duelist  and  his 
bitter  satire.  Beaumarchais 's  brilliant  talents  and  his  great 
pecuniary  success  made  him  the  object  of  much  envy.  One 
day,  splendidly  attired,  he  was  on  his  way  to  court  in  Ver- 
sailles, when  a  courtier  approached  him  with  a  sarcastic  allu- 
sion to  his  father's  trade:  "  Ah,  Monsieur  de  Beaumarchais, 
how  fortunate  I  am  to  meet  you!  Will  you  kindly  examine 
my  watch?  It  seems  to  be  wrong."  "  Willingly,"  replied 
Beaumarchais,  "  but  I  must  warn  you  that  I  am  very  awk- 
ward." The  courtier,  still  persisting,  Beaumarchais  took  the 
timepiece  and  let  it  fall.  "  Ah,  Monsieur,  a  thousand  par- 
dons, but  I  have  warned  you,  and  it  is  you  who  have  wished 
it !  "he  said,  leaving  the  angry  courtier  to  pick  up  his  watch. 

After  Duverney 's  death,  Beaumarchais  became  involved 
in  a  lawsuit  with  the  heirs  of  the  banker's  estate,  who  did  not 
recognize  his  claim  to  fifteen  thousand  francs  Duverney  had 
left  him.  He  won  the  case  in  the  preliminary  trial  court, 
but  at  the  second  hearing  he  lost  it.  He  then  appealed  to 
public  opinion  (which  he  introduced  into  French  life  as  a 
new  power)  through  the  medium  of  four  Memoir es,  in  which 
he  relentlessly  exposed  the  corruption  of  the  law  courts.  It 
was  this  that  suddenly  earned  him  the  reputation  of  a  writer. 
At  that  time  it  was  a  custom,  and  often  a  necessity,  to  go  to 
see  one 's  judges.  Beaumarchais  had  in  vain  presented  himself 
several  times  at  the  house  of  M.  Goezman,,  who  was  to  make 
33  337 


THE    HISTORY   OF   FRENCH   LITERATURE 

the  report  of  his  case.  He  was  told  that  if  a  certain  sum  of 
money  were  sent  to  Madame  Goezman,  an  audience  would  be 
immediately  accorded  him ;  the  lady  would,  moreover,  promise 
to  return  the  money  if  Beaumarchais  lost  his  case.  The  case 
was  lost,  and  the  money  was  returned,  with  the  exception  of 
fifteen  gold  louis,  which  Madame  Goezman  maintained  had 
been  given  to  the  secretary,  and  the  secretary  declared  he  had 
not  received.  Beaumarchais  pressed  his  claim  to  the  fifteen 
louis ;  the  lady  refused  to  give  them  up.  M.  Goezman  then 
accused  Beaumarchais  of  having  wanted  to  bribe  him.  So 
Beaumarehais  wrote  the  Memoires  to  defend  himself ;  and  his 
opponents  answered  in  kind,  by  way  of  accusation.  Judiciary- 
notes  were  always  printed,  but  were  not  ordinarily  sold. 
Beaumarchais  put  his  on  sale ;  they  were  eagerly  bought,  and 
soon  the  whole  of  France  was  talking  of  the  affair.  Humor- 
ous scenes,  pleasant  repartee,  wit — not  always  in  the  best  of 
taste,  but  which  covered  his  adversaries  with  ridicule — an  in- 
exhaustible gayety,  a  penetrating  and  irresistible  logic — all  this 
characterizes  the  Memoires.  With  this  weapon  he  fought,  as 
Voltaire  said,  a  dozen  persons  at  once.  His  ridicule  of  the 
parliament  made  all  Europe  stare,  contributing  much  to  dis- 
credit monarchy  and  the  ancient  institutions,  and  to  pre- 
cipitate the  Revolution. 

In  1764,  he  made  a  journey  to  Spain  to  avenge  himself 
on  the  rascal  Clavijo,  a  writer  of  Madrid,  who  was  engaged 
to  wed  his  sister,  but  who  left  her  shamefully  on  the  eve  of  her 
marriage.  Beaumarchais  was  successful  in  depriving  Clavijo 
of  his  honors  and  his  post,  and  in  having  him  banished  from 
court.  He  describes  all  this  in  his  Memoires,  and  so  dramat- 
ically and  so  well  that  Goethe  took  from  this  source  entire 
scenes  for  his  own  Clavijo. 

Beaumarchais  had  also  busied  himself  in  Spain  with  the 
collection  of  popular  melodies;  and  in  order  to  utilize  them 
he  composed  a  comic  opera,  Le  Barbier  de  Seville.  The  opera 
was  refused,  so  he  made  a  comedy  of  it,  which  became  the 
first  part  of  his  trilogy  on  Figaro  l — the  two  other  parts  being 

1  The  words  of  Figaro:  "  Je  me  presse  de  rire  de  tout  de  peur  d'etre 
oblige"  d'en  pleurer "  ("  I  hasten  to  laugh  at  everything  lest  I  be  obliged 
to  weep  over  it"),  were  taken  by  the  journal,  Le  Figaro,  as  its  motto. 

338 


TRAGEDY,  COMEDY,  POETRY  AND  THE  NOVEL 

Le  Manage  de  Figaro,  ou  la  folle  journee  and  La  mere 
coupable,  ou  I'autre  Tartufe,  a  play  of  the  "  tearful  " 
kind,  greatly  inferior  to  the  preceding  two.  The  characters 
of  the  three  plays  are  the  same.  Figaro  is  first  presented 
as  a  barber  who  has  been,  in  turn,  a  physician,  a  poet,  and  a 
journalist.  Engaged  in  business,  he  wrote  couplets,  worked 
on  political  economy,  and  pieces  for  the  theater.  Fortune 
betrayed  him;  but  this  did  not  prevent  him  from  waxing 
round  and  fat,  in  spite  of  misery,  or  from  preserving  a  gayety 
under  every  trial,  and  an  activity  which  embroiled  him  in 
intrigues  and  enterprises  of  all  sorts.  Nevertheless,  his  prob- 
ity remained  intact,  though  he  had  a  bad  reputation.  In  the  / 
Barbier  de  Seville,  the  masterpiece  of  the  French  comedy  of  ^ 
the  eighteenth  century,  Figaro  brought  about  the  marriage 
of  Rosina  to  Count  Almaviva  and  attached  himself  to  the 
count's  service.  This  play  is  a  perfect  type  of  the  comedy 
of  intrigue,  a  masterpiece  of  satiric  malice  and  grace.  It 
was  used  by  Rossini  and  Paisiello  in  their  operas,  11  Barbieri 
de  Siviglia.  In  the  second  piece,  Le  Manage  de  Figaro — the 
most  audacious  of  the  trilogy — the  hero  defends  his  fiancee 
against  this  same  count,  who  wishes  to  take  her  from  him. 
It  is  in  this  play  that  Brid  'oison  figures — the  judge  who  sings 
the  final  couplet  ending  with  this  line :  ' '  Tout  finit  par  des 
chansons  "  ("  everything  ends  in  song  "),  which  has  become 
traditional.  In  the  third  play  of  this  trilogy,  La  mere  cou- 
pable, Figaro  reconciles  the  countess  with  the  count,  who  has 
grown  old,  and  unmasks  a  knave  to  whom  Beaumarchais  has 
given  the  ill-disguised  name  of  a  lawyer,  one  Bergasse,  who 
in  a  lawsuit  had  pleaded  against  him  with  scornful  emphasis. 
The  libretto  of  the  little  two-act  opera,  Les  Noces  de  Figaro, 
by  Lorenzo  Da  Ponte,  is  borrowed  from  the  Manage  de  Figaro 
of  Beaumarchais ;  the  music,  by  Mozart,  is  an  operatic  master- 
piece. * 

In  the  Manage  de  Figaro,  the  old  government,  the  old 
society,  the  clergy,  nobility,  magistracy,  are  given  over  to 
the  ridicule  of  all  in  a  series  of  scenes  sparkling  with  gayety; 
we  can  feel  the  breath  of  revolution  in  every  line.  Louis  XVI 
was  not  mistaken ;  when  they  sent  him  the  manuscript  he  de- 
clared that  he  would  never  permit  the  piece  to  be  played; 
that  nothing  less  than  the  destruction  of  the  Bastille  would 

339 


THE    HISTORY   OP    FRENCH   LITERATURE 

make  the  representation  of  it  consistent.  But  the  queen  and 
all  the  court  intervened,  sportively  applying  to  the  king  the 
phrase  in  the  monologue  of  the  play:  "  II  n'y  que  les  petits 
hommes  qui  aient  peur  des  petits  ecrits  x ;  "  and  after  a  delay 
of  four  years  the  play  was  performed  to  the  frenzied  applause 
of  the  people.  A  few  years  later  the  Revolution  destroyed 
irrevocably  what  Figaro  had  criticised. 

Beaumarchais  summed  up  in  his  comedies  all  the  genres 
of  his  predecessors,  the  Italians,  the  Spanish,  Moliere,  Le 
Sage,  Diderot,  Regnard,  Marivaux,  to  which  he  added  his 
personal  qualities  and  the  particular  aspect  of  the  life  of  his 
epoch.  Written  in  a  brilliant  style,  his  comedies  excelled  in 
gayety  and  wit,  and  he  became  the  great  playwright  of  this 
period,  although  he  ignored  almost  entirely  the  rules  of  the 
classicists,  rejected  Alexandrines,  and  introduced  prose  on 
the  stage,  much  to  the  astonishment  and  wrath  of  the  critics. 
Voltaire  was  jealous  of  him,  and  at  the  same  time  admired 
him,  saying,  apropos  of  the  Memoires:  "  What  a  man!  he 
includes  everything:  pleasantry,  seriousness,  reason,  gayety, 
force,  pathos,  all  the  kinds  of  eloquence  in  style ;  and  he  finds 
them  all  without  effort." 

"  No  one,"  says  Jules  Lemaitre,  "  has  ever  analyzed  and 
expressed  with  more  delicacy,  the  most  subtle  questions  of 
vanity  and  love  than  Marivaux.  Love — not  violent,  but 
charming  and  coquettish  in  an  artificial  world."  Pierre 
Carlet  de  Chamblain  de  Marivaux  (1688-1763)  was  a  dra- 
matic author  and  novelist.  His  style  was  such,  that  it  has  en- 
riched the  language  with  a  new  word:  in  French,  marivau- 
dage  is  used  to  express  a  somewhat  affected  manner  that  is, 
nevertheless,  not  displeasing,  and,  if  sometimes  a  little  tedious, 
by  no  means  ridiculous.  Marivaux  composed  a  great  number 
of  pieces  characterized  by  an  accurate  and  delicate  psychology. 
Among  them  are:  Le  jeu  de  I' amour  et  du  hasard;  Le  Legs; 
Lesjausses  confidences;  La  surprise  de  I' amour;  L'Epreuve; 
L'Ecole  des  meres;  Arlequin  poli  par  I' amour.  His  best 
novels  are  Vie  de  Marianne  and  the  Paysan  parvenu.  The 
prettiest  of  his  acted  nouvelles  is  Le  jeu  de  V amour  et  du. 
hasard.  A  young  girl  in  the  country  awaits  her  betrothed  who 

1  "It  is  only  little  men  who  fear  little  writings." 
340 


TRAGEDY,  COMEDY,  POETRY  AND   THE   NOVEL 

is  to  be  presented  to  her;  in  order  to  know  him  better,  she 
assumes  the  role  and  costume  of  her  maid,  while  the  maid, 
in  her  turn,  plays  the  mistress.  By  a  strange  coincidence, 
the  betrothed  is  possessed  with  the  same  queer  fancy,  and  ar- 
rives at  the  chateau  under  the  name  and  in  the  costume  of  his 
valet,  while  the  valet  plays  the  role  of  the  master.  The  fiancee 
is  astonished  and  disappointed  at  finding  the  servant  so  much 
more  interesting  than  his  lord,  who,  in  the  end,  as  might  be 
supposed,  offers  his  heart  and  his  hand  to  the  pseudo-maid. 
During  these  combats  of  love,  the  father  and  brother  of  the 
girl,  who  are  in  the  secret,  play  tricks  on  the  young  people. 
The  whole  forms  a  very  pretty  little  picture  which,  although 
set  in  dreamland,  appears  quite  natural. 

Philippe  Nericault,  called  Destouches  (1680-1754),  fol- 
lowed the  classic  rules  in  twenty-seven  comedies,  the  best  of 
which  are  Le  Philosophe  marie,  ou  Le  Mari  honteux  de  I'etre, 
and  Le  Glorieux,  his  masterpiece. 

Pierre  Claude  Nivelle  de  La  Chaussee  (1692-1754)  is  the 
creator  of  the  comedie  larmoyante  (tearful  drama),  a  name 
given,  says  a  French  critic,  not  without  malice.  Le  Prejuge  a 
la  mode,  I' E cole  des  Meres,  and  Melanide,  considered  his  mas- 
terpiece, are  among  the  twenty-nine  of  his  plays  belonging  to 
this  new  genre,  which  combines  the  comic  and  the  tragic,  and 
is  based  on  sympathy  for  unfortunate  humanity. 

While  Marivaux,  Destouches  and  La  Chaussee  portrayed 
life  among  the  middle  classes,  the  Abbe  Antoine  Prevost 
d 'Exiles  (1697-1765)  depicts  the  frivolous  and  immoral  nobil- 
ity. In  his  Memoires  d'un  homme  de  qualite  retire  du  monde 
he  describes  his  own  restless  life.  The  Memoires  include  his 
masterpiece,  Histoire  du  Chevalier  Des  Grieux  et  de  Manon 
Lescaut,  afterwards  published  separately.  This  affecting  tale 
relates  the  love  of  the  young  nobleman,  Des  Grieux,  for  the 
lowborn  and  faithless  Manon  Lescaut,  whom  he  follows  to 
America  in  the  face  of  poverty  and  suffering.  The  story, 
under  the  title  of  Manon  Lescaut,  has  long  been  familiar  to 
English-speaking  readers.  Maurice  Leloir  made  a  series  of 
paintings  depicting  various  incidents  of  the  narrative,  and 
these  were  exhibited  in  this  country  and  attracted  wide  atten- 
tion. It  is  still  regarded  as  a  masterpiece  owing  to  its  beau- 
tiful and  simple  portrayal  of  character.  Manon  Lescaut  was 

341 


THE    HISTORY   OF    FRENCH   LITERATURE 

imitated  by  George  Sand  in  Leone  Leoni,  and  the  German 
writer,  J.  Brandes,  employed  it  in  his  tragedy,  Der  Schiff- 
bruch.  Puccini  used  it  for  his  text  in  his  lyric  drama  Manon 
Lescaut.  The  Abbe  Prevost  is  also  remembered  for  his  jour- 
nal, Le  Pour  et  le  Contre,  in  imitation  of  the  Spectator,  and 
for  his  translations  of  Richardson's  novels,  Pamela,  Grandi- 
son,  and  Clarissa  Harlowe. 

Baptiste  Louis  Gresset  (1709-1777)  reached  the  height  of 
his  fame  with  his  comedy  Le  Mechant,  a  picture  of  the  lan- 
guage and  customs  of  contemporary  society.  His  humorous 
conceit,  Vert-Vert,  is  not  forgotten.  The  subject  of  this  poem 
is  a  parrot,  which,  taught  by  some  nuns  of  Nevers,  has  become 
a  prodigy  of  intelligence  and  devotion.  The  Sisters  of  Nantes 
wish  to  see  it;  so  it  is  sent  to  them  by  one  of  the  boats  that 
ply  the  Loire.  During  the  voyage  it  hears  the  passengers  and 
boatmen  swear  and  curse,  so  that  on  arriving  at  Nantes  it 
shocks  the  Sisters  by  the  coarseness  of  its  language,  and  they 
hasten  to  send  it  back  to  its  teachers.  Vert- Vert,  obliged 
to  do  penance,  mends  his  ways,  and  obtains  pardon,  but  dies 
of  indigestion  from  eating  sugarplums.  The  author  has  enam- 
eled this  theme  with  great  delicacy,  and  pointed  it  with  a 
quantity  of  epigrams,  brilliant,  if  somewhat  farfetched.  He 
later  added  two  new  poems  to  Vert-Vert,  Les  Pensionnaires 
and  L'Ouvroir. 

Alexis  Piron  (1689-1773)  was  quoted  for  his  sallies  of  wit 
and  his  epigrams;  his  play,  La  Metromanie,  ou  la  manie  de 
faire  des  vers,  revolves  upon  unusually  vulgar  situations,  but 
in  the  matter  of  animation,  it  is  one  of  the  foremost  comedies 
of  the  century.  Piron  was  himself  a  ' '  metromaniae  " ;  in  his 
youth,  he  covered  with  couplets  and  epigrams  the  margins 
of  legal  papers  which  he  was  given  to  write  or  copy.  Hav- 
ing received  his  degree  as  lawyer,  he  wrote  a  brilliant  ode,  but 
so  obscene,  that  his  native  town,  Dijon,  was  indignant,  and  he 
was  not  allowed  to  practice  his  profession.  He  therefore 
gained  a  living  as  copyist,  and  continued  to  write  epigrams 
against  everybody.  A  candidate  for  the  Academy,  he  for- 
feited his  place  by  the  remark  in  a  visit  to  that  institution, 
"  There  are  forty  of  them  who  have  the  sense  of  four."  One 
day,  Piron  wrote  on  Voltaire's  door,  the  word  "  Coquin  " 
(rascal).  Whereupon  Voltaire  dressed  himself  elegantly, 

342 


TRAGEDY,  COMEDY,  POETRY  AND  THE  NOVEL 

and  came  to  call  on  Piron,  saying:     "  Monsieur,  I  found 
your  card  on  my  door." 

Piron  achieved  celebrity  in  Paris  where  he  wrote  eighteen 
plays  for  the  Theatre  de  la  Foire  and  some  operas-comiques, 
one  of  which,  called  I'Endriague,  is  very  extraordinary,  and 
has  for  the  principal  character  a  monster;  the  names  of  the 
characters  are  impossible,  such  as:  Espadavantavellados, 
Elfriderigelpot,  etc.,  but  the  music  was  by  his  compatriot, 
the  great  composer  Rameau.  Piron  was  finally  elected  to 
the  Academic  Francaise,  but  the  king  refused  to  ratify  his 
election,  so  Piron  wrote  his  own  epitaph,  thus: 

Ci-git  Piron,  qui  ne  fut  rien 
Pas  meme  academicien.1 

The  lyric  poets  of  this  epoch  were  rhetoricians  rather 
than  poets.  An  exhaustion  of  the  great  sources  of  inspiration 
led  to  descriptions  of  nature  without  enthusiasm,  and  de- 
scriptive poetry — a  kind  of  exercise  in  versification — became 
the  genre  in  vogue.  Of  its  numerous  expressions  in  this 
period,  it  seems  worth  while  to  mention  only  the  Saisons  of 
Saint-Lambert — a  cold,  monotonous  poem,  of  careful  versi- 
fication— and  the  copious  output  of  Delille.  This  is  what  is 
called  the  "  literature  of  the  Empire  ";  and  Delille  is  its  king. 
It  is  an  extremely  weak  literature,  in  spite  of  the  incontest- 
able qualities  of  a  style  that  could  adapt  itself  to  the  descrip- 
tion of  the  most  ordinary  objects.  Gustave  Lanson  writes: 
"  The  eighteenth  century  made  over  antiquity  to  its  own 
image,  which  resembled  it  like  the  divinities  of  the  opera 
resemble  the  Homeric  Olympus.  There  was  nothing  but 
esprit." 

The  Abbe  Delille  (1738-1813)  was  one  of  those  smart, 
witty  abbes  of  whom  there  were  so  many  in  the  eighteenth 
century — abbes  who  shone  in  the  salons,  and  were  occupied 
with  the  affairs  of  the  church  only  in  order  to  receive  its  reve- 
nues. He  outlived  the  Revolution  without  accident.  His 
poems  include  Les  Jardins,  L'Homme  des  Champs,  Les  Trois 
Regnes  de  la  Nature:  descriptions  on  descriptions.  "  He 

1 "  Here  lies  Piron  who  amounted  to  nothing,  not  even  to  an  Academician." 

343 


boasted  toward  the  end  of  his  life,"  said  Victor  Hugo,  "  of 
having  made  twelve  camels,  four  dogs,  three  horses,  including 
that  of  Job,  six  tigers,  two  cats,  a  game  of  chess,  a  backgam- 
mon-board, a  draught-board,  a  billiard  table,  several  winters, 
many  summers,  a  number  of  springs,  fifty  sunsets,  and  so 
many  dawns  that  he  could  not  count  them."  His  amusements 
in  the  drawing  room  occupy  almost  as  much  space  in  his 
poems  as  do  the  rural  descriptions;  we  feel  that  the  author 
"  looked  at  the  country  only  through  the  windows  of  the 
chateau. ' ' 

Florian  (1755-1794),  also,  still  lives  because  of  his  Fables, 
in  which  simplicity  of  narrative  is  united  with  a  certain  grace- 
ful delicacy  and  a  well-pointed  "  moral."  His  Fables  are 
easier  to  understand,  and  better  adapted  to  the  young,  than 
are  the  more  poetic  and  more  capricious  compositions  of  La 
Fontaine.  Their  titles  embrace:  Les  Deux  Voyageurs  (The 
Two  Travelers) ;  Le  Chat  et  le  Miroir  (The  Cat  and  the  Mir- 
ror) ;  Le  Singe  qui  montre  la  lanterne  magique  (The  Monkey 
with  the  Magic  Lantern)  ;  L'Ane  qui  joue  de  la  flute  (The 
Ass  that  Plays  the  Flute),  etc. 

Ecouchard  Lebrun  called  Lebrun-Pindare,  which  name 
has  been  preserved  for  him  by  posterity  not  without  ironical 
intent,  and  Le  Franc  de  Pompignan  wrote  odes.  Of  the 
latter 's  sacred  poems  Voltaire  said,  "  sacres  ils  sont,  car 
personne  n'y  touche."1  Jean  Francois  Marmontel  is  remem- 
bered for  two  mediocre  novels:  Belisaire  and  Les  Incas. 
Finally,  Malfilatre  and  Gilbert  were — like  Chatterton  in  Eng- 
land and  Calderon  in  Spain — young  poets  consumed  by  mis- 
ery before  their  genius  had  fully  ripened.  Malfilatre  com- 
posed a  pretty  poem  of  a  mythological  character.  Narcisse. 
Narcisse  is  the  son  of  the  river  Cephise.  He  falls  in  love 
with  his  own  image  while  looking  at  himself  in  the  waters  of 
a  spring,  to  the  bottom  of  which  he  plunges,  and  is  changed 
into  the  flower  which  bears  his  name. 

Gilbert  (1751-1780)  is  the  author  of  satires.  The  strophes 
of  his  Adieux  d  la  Vie  have  become  classic;  a  well-known 
stanza,  and  which  is  inscribed  over  the  supposed  remains  of 
Gilbert  in  the  catacombs  of  Paris,  is  this  one: 

1  Sacred  they  are  for  no  one  touches  them. 
344 


TRAGEDY,  COMEDY,  POETRY  AND   THE   NOVEL 

Au  banquet  de  la  vie,  infortune  convive, 
J'apparus  un  jour  et  je  meurs: 
Je  meurs,  et  sur  ma  tombe  ou  lentement  j 'arrive, 
Nul  ne  viendra  verser  des  pleurs.1 

ANDRE  CHENIER 

On  the  eve  of  the  Revolution,  a  great  poet  Andre  Chenier, 
le  dernier  des  classiques,  appeared.  Gustave  Lanson  writes: 
"  If  it  has  been  so  difficult  to  classify  Andre  Chenier,  so  that 
he  has  been  frequently  called  romanticist  a  quarter  of  a  cen- 
tury before  that  literary  movement,  it  is  because  it  has  not 
been  recognized  how  little  the  pseudo-classicists  from  1780  to 
1829  have  the  right  to  be  called  inheritors  or  disciples  of  the 
seventeenth  century — that  of  Boileau  and  Racine.  Chenier 
is  not  to  be  distinguished  from  his  contemporaries,  except  in 
that  he  goes  back  to  the  sources  of  great  classic  art.  This 
genuine  poet  who  read  Virgil,  Homer,  and  Theocritus  in  such 
exquisite  sympathy  with  the  antique  world,  and  knew  how  to 
become  enthusiastic  about  Malherbe  as  well — this  curious  mas- 
ter of  form  who  imparted  to  degenerate  classic  verse  such 
delicate  and  powerful  rhythm  and  harmony,  is  the  very  man 
who  understood  "  1'Art  poetique  "  as  Racine  and  La  Fon- 
taine understood  it,  and  who  brought  into  realization  Boi- 
leau's  original  theories." 

Andre  Chenier  was  born — as  was  his  brother,  Marie- 
Joseph,  who  was  also  a  poet — in  Constantinople,  where  their 
father  was  consul-general.  Their  mother,  a  Greek,  ac- 
quainted Andre  at  an  early  age  with  the  literature  of  her 
country;  hence  the  originality  of  his  poetry  at  a  time  when 
all  verses  seemed  cast  in  the  same  mold.  Having  studied  and 
cherished  the  literature  of  ancient  Greece  from  his  childhood, 
he  was  a  real  renovator  of  poetic  sentiment.  On  his  return 
to  France,  the  Revolution  broke  out ;  he  greeted  it  with  ecstasy, 
but  fought  its  excesses  with  anger,  in  his  Odes  and  lambes. 
He  was  arrested  on  account  of  some  articles  he  had  published 

1  At  life's  banquet,  unfortunate  guest, 
I  appeared  one  day  and  I  die: 
I  die,  and  over  my  grave  where  I  slowly  descend, 
No  one  will  come  to  shed  a  tear. 

345 


THE    HISTORY   OF   FRENCH   LITERATURE 

in  Le  Mercure,  voicing  his  indignant  protest  against  the  ex- 
cesses of  the  Terror.  He  would  probably  have  been  forgotten 
in  prison  and  been  released,  with  so  many  others,  after  the 
Ninth  Thermidor,  if  his  father,  uneasy  for  his  son 's  fate,  had 
not  gone  to  solicit  his  pardon.  This  step  proved  fatal;  the 
very  next  day  he  was  sent  to  the  scaffold,  in  company  with  his 
friend,  Roucher,  the  poet  of  the  Mois.  Just  before  his  execu- 
tion, Andre  struck  his  forehead  with  his  hand  and  said :  "It 
is  unfortunate ;  there  was  something  in  here. ' '  The  guillotine, 
by  cutting  off  that  head,  deprived  France  of  a  poet  whose 
beginnings  had  given  the  greatest  hopes.  His  ode  on  the  Ser- 
ment  du  Jeu  de  Paume  (The  Oath  of  Tennis  Court1),  and 
especially  the  lambes,  written  in  prison  while  awaiting  death, 
and  the  exquisite  elegy  of  the  Jeune  Captive,  are  in  the  first 
rank  of  satiric  poetry,  and  of  the  most  sublime  lyric  quality. 
The  young  captive  was  Aimee  de  Coigny,  a  companion  of 
Chenier's  captivity,  who  grieved  at  losing  her  life  so  early, 
and  wished,  like  the  flower  which  had  only  seen  the  dawn,  to 
finish  the  day  that  was  scarcely  begun.  Andre  Chenier  was 
only  thirty-two  years  old  when  he  died,  in  1794.  It  was  he 
who  sang: 

L'art  ne  fait  que  des  vers,  le  coeur  seul  est  poete.2 

Le  Sage  had  founded  the  novel  of  observation,  J.  J.  Rous- 
seau had  introduced  the  sentimental,  moral,  and  philosophical 
genre,  Prevost,  the  tragic  passion ;  Marivaux,  the  subtle  anal- 
ysis of  love,  and  with  Bernardin  de  Saint-Pierre  the  pic- 
turesque and  descriptive  characterized  the  novel. 

Bernardin  de  Saint-Pierre — the  greatest  of  Rousseau's 
pupils  in  the  eighteenth  century,  and  the  disciple  most  di- 
rectly inspired  by  him — is  a  true  poet  in  prose.  During  Jean- 
Jacques  Rousseau's  last  stay  in  Paris  the  constant  companion 
of  his  walks  was  Bernardin  de  Saint-Pierre,  with  whom,  in 
tastes  and  character,  he  had  much  in  common.  Born  at  Havre  in 
1737,  he  came  of  a  family  who  professed  to  be  descendants  of 
Eustache  de  Saint-Pierre  of  Calais — famous  for  his  devotion 

1  Where  the  deputies  of  the  Third  Estate  took  the  oath  not  to  separate 
until  a  constitution  had  been  granted. 

2  Art  makes  but  verse,  the  heart  alone  is  a  poet. 

346 


TRAGEDY,  COMEDY,  POETRY  AND  THE  NOVEL 

to  his  compatriots  when  Edward  III,  in  1347,  took  that  town 
and,  irritated  by  its  long  resistance,  demanded  that  six  nobles 
of  the  city  place  themselves,  with  ropes  around  their  necks, 
at  his  mercy.  Adventurous  and  undisciplined,  Bernardin 
de  Saint-Pierre  attempted  several  careers,  sailor,  soldier, 
and  traveler.  At  one  time  he  conceived  the  project  of  erecting 
a  model  city  on  the  shores  of  Lake  Aral  in  Russia,  in  which 
virtue  and  freedom  should  hold  sway.  Orloff,  the  man  in 
power  during  the  reign  of  Empress  Catherine,  to  whom  the 
imaginative  Frenchman  unfolded  his  plans,  regarded  him  as  a 
dreamer,  and  sent  him  as  an  artillery  officer  to  Finland;  but 
Bernardin  did  not  like  the  conditions  in  Russia,  and  soon  re- 
signed his  commission.  In  the  course  of  his  travels  he  made  long 
journeys  through  Prussia,  Austria,  and  the  French  colonies. 
Everywhere  his  contemplative  mind  had  been  impressed  more 
by  the  works  of  nature  than  by  those  of  man ;  and  it  is  these 
impressions  and  reflections  that  we  find  in  his  Etudes  de  la 
Nature  and  his  Harmonies  de  la  Nature.  The  countries  he 
visited  are  depicted  in  his  Voyage  a  l'Ile-de-France;  in  his 
stories,  Le  Cafe  de  Surate  and  La  Chaumiere  Indienne;  and 
especially  in  the  story — the  title  to  his  fame — Paul  et  Vir- 
ginie,  included  in  the  fourth  volume  of  his  Etudes  de  la 
Nature.  In  this  work  he  was  able,  with  infinite  art,  to  interest 
the  reader  in  the  life  of  two  children  whose  mutual  affection, 
brotherly  and  sisterly  in  its  origin,  develops  unconsciously 
into  love,  and  is  at  last  rudely  broken  by  an  accidental  death. 
The  suavity  of  this  touching  idyll,  to  which  the  author  has 
given  as  a  setting  the  wild  beauties  of  tropical  nature,  is 
unsurpassed.  It  voiced  a  protest  against  the  superficialities 
and  hypocrisies  of  society,  and  made  a  despairing  appeal  for 
nature  and  quiet  that  was  re-echoed  throughout  Europe.  The 
novel  won  for  Saint-Pierre  a  swift  and  an  immense  popular- 
ity, and  still  occupies  a  place  of  honor  among  the  literary 
productions  of  the  eighteenth  century.  It  is  said  that  when 
the  author  read  his  book  in  the  salon  of  Madame  Necker,  to 
the  assembled  elite  of  the  social  and  the  literary  world,  it 
fell  flat.  Thomas  went  to  sleep,  Buffon  demanded  his  carriage 
in  a  loud  voice,  and  Madame  Necker  superficially  compli- 
mented him.  The  author  was  in  despair,  but,  encouraged 
afresh  by  some  old  friends,  he  had  the  story  published.  In 

347 


THE    HISTORY   OF    FRENCH   LITERATURE 

the  first  year  it  ran  through  upward  of  fifty  editions.  Every 
baby  was  christened  Paul  or  Virginie. 

This  story  and  La  Chaumiere  Indienne  are  the  two  works 
in  which  Rousseau's  influence  is  most  strikingly  revealed. 
In  the  Chaumiere  Indienne,  the  author's  antipathy  to  cul- 
ture is  also  evident:  an  Englishman  goes  to  India  to  search 
for  truth,  only  to  find  the  people  imbued  with  the  egotistical 
idea  of  caste.  During  his  sojourn  he  is  caught  in  a  storm 
in  the  woods,  and  seeks  shelter  in  an  Indian  hut.  The  occu- 
pant, a  pariah  capable  of  generous  thoughts  for  those  who 
have  made  him  an  outcast,  proves  to  be  in  the  possession  of 
the  true  wisdom.  He  teaches  that  real  happiness  consists  in 
being  pure  and  unsophisticated.  Chenier  has  described  this 
philosophical  story  as  the  best,  the  most  moral,  and  the  short- 
est of  novels.  It  is  much  less  sentimental  than  Paul  et  Vir- 
ginie, and  is  not  lacking  in  humor;  and  for  these  reasons 
many  persons  prefer  it  to  his  more  famous  tale.  Les  VCKUX 
d'un  Solitaire,  which  appeared  on  the  eve  of  the  Revolution, 
is  a  chimera  of  social  reform. 

Bernardin  de  Saint-Pierre's  Etudes  de  la  Nature  (Studies 
of  Nature)  contain  brilliant  descriptions,  but  they  are  worth- 
less from  a  scientific  point  of  view  and  sentimental  to  the 
point  of  weariness.  He  points  out  the  harmonies  of  human 
beings  in  their  relation  to  one  another — the  things,  physical 
and  moral,  in  which  they  correspond  and  differ;  the  similar- 
ities and  contrasts  which,  in  consonances  and  accords,  he  likens 
to  music.  Finally,  Bernardin  de  Saint-Pierre — like  his  master, 
Rousseau — rekindled,  especially  among  the  women  of  his  gen- 
eration, the  love  of  morality  and  religion.  He  died  in  1814. 


CHAPTER   XXIII 

THE   REVOLUTION   AND   ITS   LITERATURE 

WITH  the  meeting  of  the  States-General  on  May  5,  1789, 
prophecy,  preaching,  and  the  mutterings  against  misrule,  took 
at  last  the  form  of  action.  What  Montesquieu,  Voltaire, 
Rousseau,  and  the  Encyclopedists  so  eloquently  foretold  had 
come  to  pass.  What  the  daring  Beaumarchais  1  —  the  storm- 
bird  —  proclaimed  through  the  puppets  of  the  mimic  stage, 
was  emphasized  and  made  awful  by  the  mob  of  living  men. 
Presently  all  the  pent-up  protests  of  the  people  against  the 
crimes  of  profligate  monarchy  were  to  be  expressed  in  acts 
of  savage  fury,  unbridled  license,  and  cruel  murder,  done  in 
the  name  of  liberty.  It  was  not  until  two  republics  and  four 
monarchies  had  been  successively  created  and  destroyed  that 
France,  with  the  establishment  of  the  Third  Republic,  at- 
tained political  stability,  and  with  it  prosperity  and  peace. 
As  the  literature  of  a  nation  is  interwoven  with  the  expres- 
sions of  its  society  and  government,  it  will  not  be  amiss  to  keep 
in  mind  the  state  of  France  during  these  periods  of  conflict 
and  change.  To  this  end,  let  us  refresh  our  memory  with  a 
brief  historical  review. 

The  First  Republic  was  proclaimed  on  September  21, 
1792,  and  lasted  for  twelve  years,  ,with  three  successive  forms 
of  administration:  (1)  The  Convention,  which  condemned 
Louis  XVI  and  is  identified  with  the  Revolutionary  Tribu- 
nal's "  Reign  of  Terror."  (2)  The  Directory,  established 
on  October  26,  1795,  and  overthrown  by  the  coup  d'etat  of 
General  Bonaparte  on  the  18th  Brumaire,  in  the  year  VIII 
of  the  Republic—  November  9,  1799.  (3)  The  Consulate 


1  Napoleon  I  called  his  play  Le  Manage  de  Figaro  "la  Revolution 
en  action." 

349 


THE    HISTORY    OF   FRENCH   LITERATURE 

(declared  on  November  11,  1799),  of  which  Bonaparte  was 
First  Consul,  lasting  until  1804.  The  First  Empire  that  fol- 
lowed saw  Napoleon  crowned  as  hereditary  emperor  of  the 
French;  after  gaining  the  mastery  over  the  greater  part  of 
Europe,  he  was  compelled  to  abdicate  at  Fontainebleau  on 
April  11,  1814.  The  First  Restoration,  as  the  reign  of  the  re- 
instated Bourbons  was  called,  beheld  Louis  XVIII  seated 
on  the  throne;  but  Napoleon  returned  from  Elba  in  March, 
1815,  and  expelled  him.  The  ensuing  period,  from  the  middle 
of  March  to  June  22d,  is  known  as  the  ' '  Hundred  Days  " ;  it 
witnessed  the  unavailing  struggles  of  Napoleon  to  reestablish 
his  empire.  "With  Napoleon 's  defeat  at  Waterloo,  Louis  XVIII 
resumed  his  rule,  by  the  will  of  the  allied  armies,  and  con- 
tinued to  reign  until  1824.  His  successor  and  brother,  Charles 
X,  was  dethroned  by  the  July  Revolution  (July  27-29,  1830)  ; 
this  ended  the  Second  Restoration,  and  concluded  the  rule  of 
the  elder  branch  of  the  Bourbons.  Louis  Philippe,  the  "  cit- 
izen king, ' '  representing  the  Orleans  branch  of  the  Bourbons, 
came  into  power  with  the  July  government,  and  was  deposed 
by  the  Revolution  of  February,  1848.  He  had  abdicated  in 
favor  of  his  grandson,  the  Comte  de  Paris;  but  a  provisional 
government  proclaimed  at  the  Hotel  de  Ville  (February  25th) , 
the  birth  of  the  Second  Republic.  Its  life  was  brief.  By  a 
coup  d'etat  (1851),  Louis  Bonaparte,  nephew  of  Napoleon  I, 
had  himself  named  President  for  ten  years ;  then  in  December, 
1852,  he  was  crowned  emperor — Napoleon  III.  In  1870  he 
was  taken  prisoner  by  the  Germans  at  the  battle  of  Sedan, 
and  following  the  capitulation  of  Sedan,  on  September  4th, 
the  Third  Republic  was  established,  with  Adolph  Thiers  as 
President. 


POLITICAL  ELOQUENCE  AND  PAMPHLETS 

The  French  Revolution  and  the  devastating  wars  of  Napo- 
leon did  not  promote  literary  development  in  France.  But 
the  Revolution  gave  birth  to  political  eloquence ;  and  foremost 
among  the  orators  of  the  tribune  and  the  pamphlet  was  Mira- 
beau,  the  "  French  Demosthenes/'  whose  eloquence  domi- 
nated whole  assemblies  and  whose  voice  inclined  everyone  to 
his  wishes. 

350 


REVOLUTION   AND   ITS   LITERATURE 

Honore  Gabriel  Riquetti,  Comte  de  Mirabeau  (1749-91), 
belonged  to  an  Italian  family  long  settled  in  France.  His 
father,  the  Marquis  de  Mirabeau,  was  called  the  "  friend  of 
men  " — an  appellation  derived  from  the  title  of  one  of  his 
works,  L'Ami  des  Homines.  He  was  one  of  those  anomalous 
beings  who  furthered  the  interest  of  humanity,  but  let  no  occa- 
sion pass  to  harass  and  ill-treat  his  own  family;  and  he  exer- 
cised, by  reason  of  his  obdurate  and  despotic  character,  a  per- 
nicious influence  over  his  son.  Fathers,  at  that  time,  had  the 
authority  to  put  their  sons  in  prison  when  they  were  not  satis- 
fied with  them,  even  if  these  sons  were  of  age  and  married. 
Honore 's  father,  who  was  very  harsh  to  him,  exercised  this 
authority  repeatedly ;  but  Honore  escaped,  and  settled  in  Hol- 
land. On  returning  to  France  he  was  imprisoned  again,  by 
virtue  of  a  lettre  de  cachet.1  Thus  he  acquired  that  hatred  of 
despotism  and  that  ardent  love  of  liberty  which  inspired  his 
eloquence.  In  his  Essai  sur  le  despotisme  he  preaches  the  Revo- 
lution. In  the  prison  of  St.  Vincennes,  where  he  was  obliged 
to  remain  three  years,  he  wrote  his  Essai  sur  les  lettres  de 
cachet  et  les  prisons  d'etat,  and  his  famous  letters,  published 
later  under  the  title  of  Lettres  originates  de  Mirabeau  ecrites 
au  donjon  de  Vincennes  pendant  les  annees  1777-1780.  These 
letters  embrace  his  correspondence  with  the  Marquise  Sophie 
de  Monnier,  to  whom  he  dedicated  his  Erotica  biblion.  When 
he  was  ambassador  to  Berlin,  where  Frederick  William  II 
reigned,  he  wrote  a  series  of  official  reports  important  to 
Prussian  history:  Histoire  secrete  de  la  cour  de  Berlin,  and 
De  la  Monarchic  prussienne  sous  Frederic  le  Grand. 

It  is,  however,  his  eloquence  that  brought  him  the  greatest 
fame.  When  he  spoke  the  whole  assembly  was  breathless 
with  surprise  and  admiration.  It  was  he  who  uttered  the 
famous  words,  when  the  Third  Estate,  assembled  in  the  Salle 
du  Jeu  de  Paume  (Tennis  Court)  received  orders  from  the 
king  to  disperse:  "  Go  tell  your  master  that  we  are  here 
by  the  will  of  the  people,  and  that  we  shall  not  depart  save 

1  A  lettre  de  cachet  was  a  slip  of  paper,  closed  by  the  royal  seal,  containing 
an  arbitrary  warrant  of  imprisonment  or  exile  without  accusation  or  trial. 
These  letters,  it  is  said,  were  sold  by  some  of  the  kings  for  large  sums  of 
money,  a  blank  being  left  on  the  paper  to  be  filled  in  by  the  purchaser 
with  the  victim's  name. 

351 


by  the  force  of  bayonets."  Subsequently,  during  a  period 
of  twenty  months,  he  delivered  one  hundred  and  fifty  speeches, 
always  forceful  and  fiery.  It  is  said  that  the  first  proof  of 
his  eloquence  was  furnished  at  his  own  trial  for  divorce,  when 
he  pleaded  for  himself  with  such  eloquence  that  his  wife's 
lawyer  cried  with  rage. 

Mirabeau  sometimes  received  help  in  the  preparation  of 
his  speeches;  Chamfort  was  among  those  whose  collaboration 
was  most  useful  to  him.  When  Mirabeau  mounted  the  plat- 
form it  was  often  after  a  conversation  with  Chamfort ;  it  was 
Chamfort,  speaking  through  Mirabeau,  who  said:  "  From 
here  you  see  the  window  through  which  Charles  IX  shot  at 
the  Huguenots."  "  Facility  is  a  fine  thing,"  said  Chamfort 
to  Mirabeau,  "  provided  that  we  never  waste  it."  Mirabeau 
ascends  the  platform :  ' '  Gentlemen, ' '  he  says,  ' '  it  has  been 
a  long  time  since  I  said  to  myself  that  facility  is  one  of  the 
finest  gifts  of  nature,  but  only  on  condition  that  it  be  never 
wasted. ' '  Yet  the  very  gestures  of  Mirabeau  were  commands ; 
his  motions  the  strokes  of  statesmanship.  It  was  Chamfort 
who  translated,  "  Liberty,  Equality,  Fraternity,  or  Death," 
into  ' '  Be  my  brother  or  I  will  kill  you. ' ' *  He  was  a  radical 
pessimist  who  astonished,  amazed,  and  saddened  his  con- 
temporaries. Mirabeau  used  to  say  of  him:  "  I  polish  my 
intellect  by  contact  with  this  mind,  the  most  electric  I  have 
known. ' ' 

Nicolas  Chamfort  is  not  so  well  remembered  for  his  dra- 
matic works  as  for  his  political  pamphlets,  his  sharp  sayings, 
and  his  connection  with  Mirabeau.  It  was  he  who  gave  to 
the  Revolutionary  army  the  motto:  "  Guerre  aux  palais, 
paix  aux  chaumieres. ' ' 2  The  Abbe  Sieyes  's  famous  pamphlet 
on  the  rights  of  the  Third  Estate  owes  its  title  to  Chamfort : 
Qu'est-ce  que  le  Tiers-Etatf  —  Rien!  —  Que  doit-il  etre?  — 
Tout!  3 

1  Herr  von  Billow,  the  German  chancellor,  translated  it  thus: 

"  Willst  Du  nicht  mein  Bruder  sein, 
Schlag'  ich  Dir  den  Schadel  ein." 

2  War  with  the  palace,  peace  with  the  cottages. 

3  What  is  the  Third  Estate?— Nothing!— What  should  it  be?— Every- 
thing! 

352 


REVOLUTION   AND   ITS   LITERATURE 

Camille  Desmoulins  instigated  the  storming  of  the  Bastille, 
and  his  pamphlet,  Revolutions  de  France  et  de  Brabant  was 
influential  in  overthrowing  the  Girondists  and  royalty. 


THE  THEATER:  SONGS 

The  French  are  a  nation  of  theater-goers.  Even  while 
countless  heads  were  falling  under  the  guillotine,  the  passion 
for  theatrical  performances  no  wise  diminished.  In  fact  it 
grew;  but  the  plays  were  political  expressions  of  the  day, 
and  passed  with  the  day. 

Marie- Joseph  Chenier  (1764-1811)  is  the  dramatist  of  the 
Revolution  whose  works  most  vividly  portray  its  hatreds  and 
its  hopes.  Danton  said  of  his  play,  Charles  IX,  ou  I'ecole  des 
rois:  "  If  Figaro  has  killed  the  nobility,  Charles  IX  will  kill 
royalty."  This  drama  (1790),  important  in  subject,  but  mis- 
erably executed,  was  immensely  popular  because  it  violently 
attacked  tyrants,  and  in  its  titular  subject  the  public  saw 
Louis  XVI.  Chenier  is  also  the  author  of  the  Chant  du  depart 
— a  battle  song  of  the  Republic  that  made  him  famous,  but 
which,  nevertheless,  contains  no  true  poetry. 

Antoine  Vincent  Arnault  became  the  idol  of  the  populace 
in  1791  because  of  his  tragedy  Marius  a  Minturnes,  and  his 
revolutionary  play,  Lucrece,  ou  Rome  libre.  Under  Napo- 
leon he  held  a  post  of  honor,  and  wrote  a  Napoleonic  play, 
Scipion;  but  his  sentiments  were  seen  to  undergo  a  change  in 
his  Germanicus,  written  after  Napoleon's  downfall.  Jean 
Baptiste  Legouve  gained  favor  with  his  tragedy,  La  Mort 
d'Abel;  and  Jean  Frangois  de  la  Harpe  favored  the  Revolu- 
tion in  both  his  tragedies  and  comedies.  The  political  and 
satirical  play,  L'Aml  des  lois,  by  Laya  (1793),  was  a  violent 
satire  on  the  Revolution,  and  caused  a  tumult  at  every  per- 
formance— the  royalists  applauding  and  the  republicans  hiss- 
ing it.  With  the  execution  of  the  king  its  representations 
ceased.  The  greatest  success  of  the  times  was  an  obscene 
drama,  Jugement  dernier  des  rois,  by  Marechal,  which  mocked 
the  downfall  of  royalty.  It  was  staged  immediately  after  the 
execution  of  Marie- Antoinette.  Jean  Frangois  Ducis,  at  the 
beginning  of  the  "  Terror  "  made  known  to  the  French  some 
24  353 


THE   HISTORY   OF   FRENCH   LITERATURE 

of  Shakespeare's  greatest  characters.  When  Othello  was 
played  and  the  scene  of  Desdemona's  murder  enacted,  ter- 
rified screams  arose  from  the  audience,  and  many  women 
fainted.  The  translations  made  by  Ducis  are  very  bad; 
critics  have  called  him  the  Shakespearean  bungler.  Neverthe- 
less, he  achieved  a  certain  purpose.  Among  the  playwrights 
who  eschewed  politics,  are  Jean  Francois  Collin  d 'Harleville, 
whose  most  effective  comedy  is  Les  Chateaux  en  Espagne,  and 
Philippe  Fabre  d 'Eglantine,  who  wrote  seventeen  plays,  of 
which  La  Philinte  de  Moliere  is  the  best  contemporary  comedy. 
The  suffix  Eglantine — meaning  the  golden  rose — was  acquired 
by  him  as  the  winner  of  that  emblem  in  the  poetical  contest 
of  the  Jeux  floraux  in  Toulouse. 

Tout  finit  par  des  chansons  en  France.  The  royal  power, 
absolute  power,  the  oppression  of  the  people,  ended  with 
songs — the  songs  inspired  by  the  Revolution.  In  the  Archives 
of  the  Conservatoire  arJl  libraries  of  France  there  have  been 
found  about  one  hundred  and  fifty  such  chansons.  Of  these 
the  earliest  is  the  QQ  ira,  sung  on  the  14th  of  July,  1790, 
at  the  Fete  de  la  Federation,  the  first  anniversary  of  the 
storming  of  the  Bastille.  The  words  were  suggested  to  the 
street-singer,  Ladre,  by  an  exclamation  uttered  by  Benjamin 
Franklin,  who,  on  learning  from  time  to  time,  of  his  country- 
men's victories  in  the  war  of  American  Independence,  during 
his  sojourn  in  Paris,  rubbed  his  hands,  saying  "  Qa  ira,"  "  Qa 
ira  "  ("It  will  go,  it  will  go,"  i.  e.,  we  shall  succeed).  The 
music  of  the  Qa  ira  was  that  of  a  popular  eontre  danse 
called  the  Carillon  national,  composed  by  Becourt.  At  first 
the  words  were  temperate,  and  merely  designed  to  inspire 
courage;  but  by  degrees  the  refrains  added  to  the  song  took 
on  a  threatening  nature,  and  became  more  and  more  ferocious 
as  the  Revolution  progressed.  Originally,  the  Qa  ira  ran 
thus: 

Ah!  <ja  ira,  <?a  ira,  $a  ira! 
Le  peuple  en  ce  jour  sans  cesse  repete: 

Ah!  ga  ira,  c.a  ira,  <;a  ira! 
Malgre"  les  mutins,  tout  r£ussira! 
Nos  ennemis  confus  en  restent  la; 
Et  nous  aliens  chanter  alleluia! 

Ah!  §a  ira,  ga  ira,  §a  ira! 
354 


REVOLUTION    AND    ITS    LITERATURE 

Quand  Boileau  jadis  du  clerge  parla, 
Comme  un  prophete  il  a  predit  cela: 
En  chantant  ma  chansonnette, 
Avec  plaisir  on  dira : 

Ah!  §a  ira,  ga  ira,  c.a  ira! 
Malgre  les  mutins,  tout  reussira! 

Later,  the  refrain  became: 

Ah!  ga  ira,  ga  ira,  ga  ira! 
Les  aristocrat'  a  la  lanterne; 
Ah!  ga  ira,  ga  ira,  ga  ira! 
Les  aristocrat'  on  les  pendra! 

The  Carmagnole  was  a  song  and  dance,  rivaling  in  popu- 
larity the  Qa  ira  during  the  Revolution.  The  original  song, 
written  in  1792,  was  of  a  military  character,  and  received 
its  name  from  a  dance  popular  in  Carmagnola,  a  town  in 
Italy,  but  the  revolutionary  song  La  Carmagnole,  owes  its 
name  to  the  name  of  a  jacket  introduced  into  Southern  France 
by  Piedmontese  workmen.  Its  innocuous  nature  as  a  popu- 
lar dancing  song  was  transformed,  in  1793,  into  the  bloody 
Carmagnole  des  Royalistes.  The  refrain,  however,  to  all  the 
verses  has  remained  the  same : 

Vive  le  son!  vive  le  son! 
Dansons  la  carmagnole, 
Vive  le  son  du  canon! 

The  most  famous  of  the  patriotic  songs  is  the  Marseillaise, 
which  breathes  patriotic  fervor  and  love  of  country.  The 
words  and  music  were  composed  by  Rouget  de  Lisle,  a  young 
officer  in  the  garrison  of  Strasburg,  in  the  midst  of  the  mil- 
itary preparations  at  the  time  of  the  declaration  of  war 
between  France  and  Austria.  Rouget  de  Lisle  called  it 
Chant  de  guerre  pour  I'armee  du  Rhin.  Soon  afterwards,  the 
singer  Mireur  sang  it  at  a  civic  banquet  at  Marseilles,  and  it 
caused  such  a  sensation  that  it  was  at  once  printed  and  dis- 
tributed among  the  volunteers  of  the  battalion  just  leaving 
Marseilles  for  Paris.  They  sang  it  marching  to  the  attack 
of  the  Tuileries,  on  August  10,  1792;  then  it  spread  spon- 

355    * 


THE   HISTORY   OF   FRENCH   LITERATURE 

taneously  throughout  France,  under  the  name  of  La  Mar- 
seillaise. Its  last  verse,  wrongly  attributed  to  J.  Chenier,  was 
added  by  the  Girondins,  who  sang  it  on  their  way  to  the  guillo- 
tine. The  Bourbons  proscribed  it,  but  the  people  of  the  July 
revolution  of  1830,  by  which  Charles  X  was  forced  to  ab- 
dicate, marched  to  its  music.  So  did  the  revolutionists  of 
1848,  who  deposed  Louis-Philippe.  Napoleon  III  tried  to 
substitute  for  it  the  Partant  pour  la  Syrie,  by  Jean  Laborde ; x 
but  since  the  Third  Republic,  in  1870,  it  has  been  officially 
recognized  as  the  national  hymn  of  France.  Its  first  couplet 
runs: 

Aliens,  enfants  de  la  patrie, 

Le  jour  de  gloire  est  arrival 

Centre  nous  de  la  tyrannic 

L'etendard  sanglant  est  leve"!  (bis) 

Entendez-vous,  dans  les  campagnes, 

Mugir  ces  fe"roces  soldats? 

Us  viennent  jusque  dans  nos  bras 

Egorger  nos  fils,  nos  compagnes! 
Aux  armes,  citoyens!  formez  vos  bataillons! 
Marchons!  (bis)  qu'un  sang  impur  abreuve  nos  sillons! 

The  composer  Salieri  has  used  the  Marseillaise  in  the  open- 
ing chorus  of  his  opera,  Palmira;  Grison  employed  it  in  the 
introduction  to  the  oratorio  of  Esther  (Racine)  ;  Schumann 
drew  upon  it  in  his  song  of  the  Two  Grenadiers,  and  in  his 
overture  to  Hermann  and  Dorothea  (Goethe).  Carlyle 
wrote:  "  The  sound  of  it  did  tingle  in  men's  veins,  and 
whole  armies  and  assemblies  did  sing  it,  with  eyes  weeping 
and  burning,  with  hearts  defiant  of  death,  despot,  and  devil. ' ' 

1  "  Partant  pour  la  Syrie, 
Le  jeune  et  beau  Dunois 
Venait  prier  Marie 
De  be"nir  ses  exploits." 


CHAPTER   XXIV 

THE  NINETEENTH   CENTURY 

IN  the  middle  of  the  sixteenth  century  ''at  last  Mal- 
herbe  came, ' ' 1  and  reformed  the  French  language ;  and  not 
until  two  hundred  years  later  was  it  freed  from  its  classic 
"bondage.  Dramatic  poetry  especially,  was  fettered  by  the 
French  misconception  of  Aristotle's  "  unities,"  the  unin- 
telligible interpretation  of  the  dramas  of  antiquity,  and  the 
imperious  mandates  of  royalty.  It  became  in  effect  a  kind  of 
court  poetry,  the  readers  of  which  were  limited  to  a  few 
thousand  persons,  mostly  in  Paris.  The  classic  form  was, 
moreover,  kept  intact  by  the  exclusion  of  all  foreign  influ- 
ences. 

But  with  the  close  of  the  eighteenth  century  and  the  be- 
ginning of  the  nineteenth,  literature  was  revivified  by  imag- 
ination and  sentiment.  In  the  reaction  from  the  bloody  trage- 
dies of  the  Revolution,  people  turned  their  minds  to  peace 
and  nature,  and  sought  new  modes  of  expression  adapted  to 
new  conditions.  The  terrors  and  the  miseries  that  Frenchmen 
had  undergone  quickened  their  sensibilities.  Softened  by  the 
anguish  of  exile  and  suffering,  men  "  looked  in  their  hearts 
and  wrote,"  touching  a  responsive  chord  in  the  hearts  of 
others.  Along  with  the  ideas  liberated  by  the  social  ferment 
was  mingled  the  influence  of  that  foreign  literature  brought 
to  France  during  the  wars  of  the  Republic  and  of  Napoleon. 
England,  Germany,  and  the  Orient  all  contributed  to  the 
great  change  that  came  in  French  literature;  most  notable 
was  the  influence  exercised  by  Shakespeare  and  Goethe.  The 
plays  of  Shakespeare  had  been  performed  for  upward  of 

1  Boileau. 
357 


THE   HISTORY    OF    FRENCH   LITERATURE 

a  century  before  they  were  known  in  France.  Not  until 
Voltaire  dared  to  proclaim  them  as  works  of  high  art,  were 
they  recognized  by  a  people  to  whom  classicism  seemed  su- 
preme and  unassailable.  The  Theatre  anglais  of  Delaplace, 
published  in  1746,  contained  a  translation  of  some  of  Shake- 
speare's best  plays;  but  the  works  of  this  translator  left  no 
lasting  impression.  It  remained  for  Voltaire  to  set  in  motion 
an  influence  that  became  world-wide ;  his  revelation  of  Shake- 
speare's  genius  spread  to  Germany,  where  Wieland  (the 
German  Voltaire)  first  translated  the  great  dramas,  some 
twenty  years  subsequent  to  Lessing's  "  discovery  "  of  the 
bard  of  Avon.  Meanwhile,  Mercier,  in  his  Du  theatre,  ou 
nouvel  essai  sur  I' art  dramatique,  called  attention  to  the  plays 
as  true  tragedy,  and  attacked  the  French  classic  drama,  with 
its  hampering  rules.  Finally,  Pierre  Letourneur  lent  a  de- 
cisive impetus  to  the  movement  with  his  twenty  volumes  of 
prose  translations  of  Shakespeare.  In  his  preface  he  says: 
"  Shakespeare  could  appear  in  the  country  of  Corneille, 
Racine,  and  Moliere,  and  demand  of  the  French  the  tribute 
of  glory  each  nation  pays  to  genius,  which  he  would  have 
received  from  these  three  great  men  had  he  been  known  to 
them." 

Goethe's  influence  on  the  literature  of  France  at  this 
time  is  recognized  by  the  French  as  of  great  importance. 
His  Werther,  though  inspired  by  the  Nouvelle  Helo'ise,  sur- 
passed that  Gallic  production  in  significance,  and  left  its 
impress  on  all  the  poets  of  the  early  nineteenth  century  im- 
bued with  the  sentiment  of  Weltschmerz.  Napoleon  greatly 
admired  Werther.  It  was  one  of  the  few  books  he  carried 
with  him  on  his  campaigns,  and  it  was  the  subject  of  an  an- 
imated discussion  when  he  met  Goethe  in  Erfurt.  Werther 
affected  the  fashions  as  well  as  the  literature  of  the  French: 
the  Werther  costume  and  the  hat  a  la  Charlotte  were  much  in 
vogue.  Yet  it  must  be  admitted  that  Goethe's  infinitely 
greater  work,  Faust,  although  translated  some  sixty  times  into 
French,  achieved  its  greatest  popularity  in  France  through 
Gounod's  operatic  treatment  of  the  Gretchen  episode.  The 
public,  naturally,  devours  a  novel  in  preference  to  philo- 
sophical poetry.  Both  Shakespeare  and  Goethe  have  been  well 
translated  and  interpreted  in  France  by  A.  Mezieres  whose 

358 


THE   NINETEENTH   CENTURY 

Predecesseurs  et  contemporains  de  Shakespeare  was  awarded 
the  prix  Montyon;  in  1898  M.  Jusserand  supplied  a  special 
need  with  his  excellent  work,  Shakespeare  dans  I'ancien 
regime." 

As  we  have  seen,  the  Revolution  and  the  Napoleonic  wars 
were  not  actually  productive  of  much  important  literature, 
but  prepared  the  soil  for  its  production.  The  literature  of 
the  First  Empire  was  singularly  sterile.  It  found  its  chief 
expression  in  descriptive  poetry  and"  in  metrical  translation. 
Its  most  honored  exponents  were  petty  poets,  story  writers, 
anecdote  mongers,  composers  of  the  semi-elegiac — men  like 
Fontanes,  Arnault,  Parny,  Andrieux,  and  Delille,  yet  they 
were  already  antiquated.  The  advent  of  a  new  society,  with 
new  ideas  and  new  tastes,  was  bound  to  introduce  a  new  liter- 
ary form. 

However,  at  first,  the  reformers  had  few  disciples.  Under 
the  Republic  and  the  Empire,  minds  which  were  absorbed  in 
political  convulsions,  and  eager  for  glory,  had  little  leisure 
for  poetic  works ;  literature  continued  to  be  only  a  faint  copy 
of  the  two  preceding  centuries.  It  was  during  the  peaceful 
years  of  the  Restoration  that  it  began  to  take  on  a  new 
character :  so  long  separated  by  war  from  the  other  states  of 
Europe,  the  French  now  hastened  to  renew  that  intercourse 
which  is  the  life  of  nations.  They  came  to  know  the  ancient 
and  modern  treasures  of  Germany  and  England ;  the  sixteenth 
century  was  made  an  object  of  study,  and  the  productions  of 
the  Middle  Ages,  so  long  ignored,  were  studied  anew.  The 
French  mind  thus  prepared,  the  innovators  undertook  to  in- 
troduce into  poetry  more  imagination,  more  feeling  and  con- 
templation, and  that  individualism  which  marked  the  re- 
awakening of  lyric  poetry.  They  received  the  name  of 
Romanticists,  and  their  merit  consisted  in  freeing  poetry 
from  the  restricting  rules  of  classicism;  they  enriched  the 
language,  making  truth  and  nature  the  essential  features  of 
form  and  topic,  and  thereby  created  a  literature  for  the  people. 
Yet  this  desire  to  create  strong  impressions  and  to  lay  hold  of 
the  popular  imagination  often  led  to  grave  faults,  among  them 
that  of  overstepping  the  normal.  The  subjects  then  became 
grotesque  and  loathsome,  the  language  lost  its  simplicity  and 
lucidity,  and  the  style  was  involved  and  ambiguous.  Victor 

359 


THE    HISTORY   OF    FRENCH   LITERATURE 

Hugo  declared  that  the  characteristic  and  not  the  beautiful, 
the  realistic  and  not  the  ideal  things  of  life  should  be 
portrayed.  This  naturally  led  into  the  paths  of  realism. 

The  romantic  school  originated  in  Germany,  toward  the 
end  of  the  eighteenth  century  with  a  number  of  poets,  critics, 
and  philosophers :  August  von  Schlegel,  Tieck,  Novalis,  Schel- 
ling,  and  others.  Its  greatest  German  representatives  were 
Goethe  and  Schiller.  These  men  worked  to  repudiate  the 
French  classic  influence  to  which  their  literature,1  as  well  as 
the  English,  had  been  subjected  since  the  seventeenth  century. 
They  assumed  the  name  romantic,  as  pertaining  to  the  signifi- 
cation evolved  from  romances — fabulous,  fantastic,  poetically 
fanciful — the  popular  literature  of  the  Middle  Ages.  This 
name  was  introduced  into  France  by  Madame  de  Stael,  and 
given  to  a  similar  school.  In  France  the  movement  was  not 
accomplished  until  another  revolution — confined,  however,  to 
literary  territory — had  occurred :  the  bitter  fight  between  the 
adherents  of  the  old  classic  school  and  those  of  the  new  school 
— the  Romanticists.  It  raged  from  1820  to  1830,  the  Roman- 
ticists finally  winning  a  victory  with  the  memorable  per- 
formance of  Victor  Hugo's  Hernani  at  the  Theatre-Francais. 
A  petition  signed  by  seven  Classicists  2  had  been  sent  to  King 
Charles  X,  asking  that  his  theater  at  least  be  reserved  ex- 
clusively for  the  classic  drama ;  but  the  king  answered  that  in 
the  playhouse  his  position  was  but  that  of  any  other  citizen. 
So  the  performance  took  place;  and  those  who  would  learn 
the  incidents  of  that  eventful  evening  will  be  repaid  by  the 
perusal  of  Theophile  Gautier's  Histoire  du  Romantisme. 

The  reaction  in  literature  spread  to  the  arts  and  sciences. 
David  d 'Angers  was  deposed — David,  dictator  of  arts  during 
the  Revolution  and  the  Empire,  who  was  celebrated  for  the 
classic  purity  of  his  drawings;  the  rebels  against  the  antique 
were  led  by  artists  such  as  Delacroix,  Gros,  Gericault.  In 
music  the  foremost  innovators  were  Chopin,  Von  Weber, 


1  French  language  in  the  seventeenth  and  eighteenth  centuries,  says  A. 
Rambaud, "  became  the  language  of  diplomacy,  of  the  courts,  of  philosophy, 
of  science,  and  of  society,  to  that  degree  that  the  European  aristocrats 
forgot  their  national  languages." 

2  Lemercier,  Viennet,  Arnault,  Jouy,  Leroy,  Jay,  and  Andrieux. 

360 


THE    NINETEENTH    CENTURY 

Wagner,  Schumann.  The  science  born  with  the  century  had 
its  share  in  the  new  order,  and  its  effect  was  visible  in  history 
and  literary  criticism.  ^ 

To  return  to  literature,  it  may  be  divided  in  the  nineteenth 
century  into  three  periods.  The  first — the  romantic  period — 
extends  to  1850 ;  the  second — the  naturalistic  period — to  1880 ; 
the  third  period  is  difficult  to  define  concretely  as  it  embraces 
various  artistic  tendencies.  The  chief  precursor  of  roman-  . 
ticism  was  J.  J.  Rousseau.  The  two  great  pioneers  of  the  new 
movement  were  Chateaubriand  and  Madame  de  Stael,  in  the  - 
very  beginning  of  the  century,  although  the  literary  traditions 
of  the  seventeenth  and  eighteenth  centuries  continued  to  play 
an  important  role  for  the  next  thirty  years.  These  two  authors  ' 
were  followed  by  the  Romanticists  proper:  Lamartine,  Victor 
Hugo,  de  "Vigny,  de  Musset,  and  the  rest.  The  later  Roman- 
ticists— Gautier,  Balzac,  George  Sand,  Flaubert — were  af- 
fected by  influences,  very  foreign  to  romanticism,  which 
announced  a  new  art.  Chateaubriand  created  a  world  of 
images  by  associating  the  Christian  Middle  Ages  with  pagan 
antiquity.  He  sought  to  awaken  in  men  strong  and  generous 
beliefs;  to  lead  them  to  religion  through  nature  and  poetry. 
He  expounded  a  criticism  that  explored  the  human  heart,  and 
applied  local  color  and  imagination  to  historical  pictures  and 
recollections.  He  modified  the  language.  He  enriched  it  with 
expressions,  figures,  forms,  of  a  new  character;  he  gave  prose 
a  coloring,  a  brilliance,  and  a  melody  that  were  unknown  be- 
fore. Madame  de  Stael  likewise  upheld  the  moral  as  well  as 
the  religious  principles  which  were  to  direct  the  social  regen- 
eration; like  Chateaubriand,  she  discovered  unknown  realms, 
and  acquainted  France  with  the  German  genius.  J 

Chateaubriand  was  the  father  not  only  of  romanticism, 
but,  pretty  nearly,  of  all  the  forms  of  literary  art  in  the 
nineteenth  century.  A  passionate  lover  of  every  kind  of 
beauty,  a  dweller  in  the  solitudes  of  the  New  World,  a  writer 
who  looked  to  the  Orient,  to  Greece  and  Rome,  ancient  and 
modern,  and  to  Italy — he  came  to  reveal  to  his  countrymen  a 
sphere  which  included  the  whole  earth.  In  doing  so  he  in- 
troduced a  cosmopolitan  art  instead  of  an  art  too  excessively 
national.  Francois  Rene,  Vicomte  de  Chateaubriand,  was  born 
at  Saint-Malo  in  Brittany,  in  1768,  of  an  ancient  and  noble 

361 


THE   HISTORY   OF   FRENCH   LITERATURE 

family.  When  the  Revolution  broke  out  he  was  a  captain  in 
the  regiment  of  Navarre.  He  left  France  in  1791,  and  em- 
barked for  North  America,  ostensibly  with  the  purpose  of 
solving  a  geographical  problem — the  sea  passage  to  India  by 
way  of  Hudson  Bay.  He  had  letters  of  introduction  to  many 
eminent  persons  in  the  United  States.  Washington,  who  lived 
unpretentiously,  without  guards  or  servants  in  livery,  gave  the 
Frenchman  a  cordial  welcome,  and  greatly  impressed  him  by 
the  simplicity  of  his  character  and  surroundings.  Chateau- 
briand made  several  unavailing  attempts  to  discover  a  north 
passage,  and  then  buried  himself  in  the  primeval  forests  of 
the  wilderness — visiting  the  region  of  the  Great  Lakes  and  the 
country  near  the  mouth  of  the  Mississippi,  and  studying 
the  Indians  whose  portraits  he  has  left  us.  But  hearing  of 
the  flight  of  Louis  XVI  and  his  arrest  at  Varennes,  he  returned 
to  Europe,  and  went  to  join  the  army  of  the  emigres *  at 
Coblentz.  Wounded  at  the  siege  of  Thionville,  and  taken  to 
England,  where  he  lived  several  years  in  penury,  he  published 
in  London  his  first  work,  Essai  sur  les  Revolutions.  Return- 
ing to  France  in  1800,  he  published  Atala  in  the  following 
year  in  the  Mercure  de  France.  It  was  enthusiastically  re- 
ceived, as  was  his  succeeding  work,  Rene;  and  his  literary 
reputation  was  established.  His  Le  Genie  du  Christianisme 
embraced  these  two  episodes  relating  to  the  author's  voyage 
in  America.  He  had  brought  back  from  this  country  an  im- 
mense quantity  of  literary  material ;  and  he  drew  upon  it  for 
all  the  works  we  have  mentioned,  and  for  his  Indian  tale, 
Les  Natchez. 

Atala  is  the  story  of  a  young  savage  girl,  secretly  con- 
verted to  Christianity,  who,  in  compliance  with  her  mother's 
wish,  has  vowed  solemnly  not  to  marry.  Falling  in  love  with 
Chactas,  a  young  half-breed  warrior  taken  prisoner  by  her 
father  and  condemned  to  be  burned,  she  lets  him  escape,  and 
goes  with  him.  But,  rather  than  violate  her  vow,  she  poisons 
herself,  and  dies  in  his  arms.  Atala  contains  a  magnificent 
description  of  the  primeval  forest;  and  in  MescJiacebe  we 
have  the  real  name  of  the  Mississippi.  The  story  exhaled  the 

1  The  royalists  who  left  France  in  1789  and  succeeding  years,  and  took 
refuge  in  England,  Germany,  Switzerland,  and  other  countries. 

362 


THE   NINETEENTH    CENTURY 

wild  and  mysterious  fragrance  of  the  American  forests  and 
revealed  a  new  literature.  Its  freshness  and  brilliant  style 
announced  the  author's  genius.  In  it  he  appears  as  the 
originator  of  the  idealized  Indian  whom  Fenimore  Cooper  has 
portrayed  in  his  "  Leatherstocking  Series."  Atala  is  still 
popular  in  France,  and  is  accounted  a  French  classic.  Criti- 
cism is  unanimous  in  declaring  that  Chateaubriand  excels  in 
description  of  wild  nature  and  the  depiction  of  mystical,  pas- 
sionate characters. 

Rene  is  the  story  of  a  young  European  who  finds  himself 
beset  by  an  incurable  ennui ;  whether  he  travels  or  remains  at 
home,  whether  he  works  or  dreams,  this  ennui  consumes  him. 
A  sister  of  Rene  has  fallen  in  love  with  him ;  and  in  order  to 
escape  this  unholy  love,  she  retires  into  a  convent.  But  at 
the  moment  when  she  makes  her  vows,  Rene  hears  the  fatal 
secret  escape  from  her  lips.  Rene  is  one  of  the  most  beauti- 
ful and  also  morbid  works  of  Chateaubriand.  In  it  the 
author  himself  appears  under  the  name  of  the  hero.  This 
personal  note  sounded  by  Chateaubriand  was  echoed  especially 
by  French  poetry  in  the  nineteenth  century,  and  was  produc- 
tive of  the  modern  lyricism.  1^  is  Rene,  issuing  from  Goethe's 
Werther,  whom  we  see  through  a  veil  in  Lamartine,  Victor 
Huga,  and  Alfred  de  Musset.  Hugo  says :  ' '  You  say,  *  Speak 
of  us.' — Speaking  of  me  is  speaking  of  yourself;  human- 
ity is  a  chain."  The  poet,  in  picturing  his  own  sorrows, 
pictures  the  sorrows  common  to  the  human  heart.  This  sub- 
jective poetry  has  inspired  an  entire  school,  the  heads  of  which 
are  Lamartine,  who  has  feeling;  Victor  Hugo,  who  has  im- 
agination; and  Alfred  de  Musset,  who  has  passion. 

This  malady  of  Rene  for  a  long  time  affected  the  youth 
of  all  countries,  since  we  find  this,  type  in  Germany,  in 
Goethe's  Werther;  in  Italy,  in  the  Ortis  of  Foscolo;  in  Eng- 
land, in  several  characters  of  Byron;  in  Russia,  in  the  works 
of  Pushkin  and  Lermontov. 

Les  Natchez  is  the  continuation  of  Rene;  the  hero  marries 
an  Indian  girl  and  dies  in  battle.  This  tale,  a  poem  in 
prose,  is  a  pathetic  romance,  and  affords  a  curious  portrait 
of  savage  life. 

In  the  Genie  du  Christianisme,  ou  la  beaiite  de  la  religion 
chretienne,  Chateaubriand  undertakes  to  prove  the  existence 

363 


THE    HISTORY   OF   FRENCH   LITERATURE 

of  God  by  the  marvels  of  nature.  This  work  was  an  immense 
success.  Its  eloquent  and  poetic  "  apology  "  for  the  Christian 
religion  conformed  to  the  wishes  and  plans  of  Napoleon  Bona- 
parte, who  was  at  that  time  (1801)  negotiating  the  famous 
Concordat  with  Pius  VII.  Napoleon  rewarded  Chateaubriand 
with  the  post  of  secretary  to  the  ambassador  in  Rome,  and 
later  made  him  minister  plenipotentiary  to  Valais.  But  when 
the  Due  d'Enghien  was  put  to  death  by  order  of  the  First 
Consul,  Chateaubriand  at  once  sent  in  his  resignation;  and 
his  discourse  on  his  reception  at  the  French  Academy,  in 
which  he  criticised  the  government,  finally  put  an  end  to  all 
friendly  relations.  Napoleon  exiled  the  new  academician, 
and  his  place  in  the  Academy  remained  vacant  for  twenty- 
four  years.  During  the  Restoration,  Chateaubriand  devoted 
himself  to  political  life,  and  wrote  for  the  royalist  cause  his 
De  Buonaparte  et  des  Bourbons,  He  accompanied  Louis  XVIII 
in  his  flight  to  Ghent  during  the  One  Hundred  Days,  and  upon 
that  monarch's  restoration  was  advanced  to  the  dignity  of 
minister  and  peer  of  France. 

Chateaubriand's  Les  Martyrs,  ou  le  triomphe  de  la  reli- 
gion chretienne  is  a  brilliant  ^pic  in  prose  on  the  triumph  of 
the  Christian  religion  and  the  fall  of  paganism;  but  it  does 
not  equal  his  other  works.  Before  writing  Les  Martyrs, 
Chateaubriand  had  wished  to  see  for  himself  the  scenes  he 
proposed  to  describe.  He  has  beautifully  recorded  the  story 
of  his  trip  in  his  Itineraire  de  Paris  a  Jerusalem.  To  begin 
with  he  goes  to  Greece,  and  imagines  himself  as  the  first  to 
discover  the  ruins  of  Sparta;  then  to  Constantinople  and 
Palestine,  where  he  wished  to  get  inspiration  for  his  work 
already  prepared.  He  returns  by  way  of  Egypt,  Tunis  (con- 
juring up  the  past  in  his  study  of  the  ruins  of  Carthage), 
and  Spain,  where  he  finds  the  subject  of  one  of  his  best 
nouvelles,  the  Aventures  du  dernier  Abencerage. 

Chateaubriand  could  embellish,  through  his  great  gift  of 
imagination,  all  the  places  he  visited,  yet  without  lapsing 
from  historical  and  geographical  accuracy,  or  destroying  the 
local  "  atmosphere."  Le  dernier  Abencerage  is  a  story  of  the 
chivalrous  type,  the  action  of  which  takes  place  at  Grenada 
in  the  sixteenth  century,  and  tells  the  fate  of  the  last  Moorish 
prince.  In  this  fresh  and  touching  tale  the  author  has  been 

364 


THE   NINETEENTH   CENTURY 

able  skillfully  to  put  in  relief  the  triple  character  of  the  Arab, 
in  Aben-Hamet;  the  Spaniard,  in  Don  Carlos;  the  French- 
man, in  Lautrec.  Dona  Blanca,  by  her  beauty  and  her  mis- 
fortune, crowns  this  little  picture  with  a  vivid  and  charming 
interest. 

The  last  years  of  Chateaubriand's  life  were  filled  with  the 
editing  of  his  Memoires  d' outre-tomb e,  which  as  the  title  in- 
dicates, were  not  to  appear  until  after  his  death.  They  are 
in  twelve  volumes,  and  comprise  the  years  1811  to  1833. 
These  Memoires  are  intensely  disappointing,  imbued  as  they 
are  with  presumptuous  vanity  and  a  kind  of  self-glorification. 
Above  all,  they  emphasize  the  faults  of  bombast  and  labored 
effort  which  in  his  other  works  are  only  occasionally  dis- 
cernible. As  we  read  the  works  of  Chateaubriand  in  the 
numerical  order  of  their  production,  we  observe  his  political 
evolution.  In  1800  he  is  very  loyal  to  monarchy;  later  he 
gradually  becomes  liberal,  and  ends  by  being  almost  a 
republican.  He  himself  says :  "  I  am  republican  by  inclina- 
tion, Bourbon  through  duty,  and  monarchist  by  force  of 
reason. ' '  He  died  in  1848  and  his  body  was  interred  opposite 
Saint-Malo,  on  Le  Grand  Bey,  an  island  rock  which  he  had 
bought  with  this  intention;  later  a  statue  was  erected  to  him 
not  far  from  his  tomb. 

MADAME  DE  STAEL 

Anne  Louise  Germaine  Necker,  Baroness  de  Stael-Hol- 
stein,  was  born  at  Paris  in  1766.  She  was  the  daughter  of 
the  Genevese  banker,  Necker,  who  became  Secretary  of  the 
Treasury  under  Louis  XVI.  As  a  child  she  heard  the  con- 
versations of  the  men  most  distinguished  in  letters,  science, 
and  politics,  who  gathered  in  her  mother's  drawing-room. 
Reared  at  a  time  when  mind  was  held  to  be  the  only  thing 
of  value,  her  rare  intelligence  had  received  the  most  preco- 
cious training.  Her  marriage  with  the  Baron  de  Stael-Hol- 
stein,  ambassador  to  Sweden,  was  a  very  unhappy  one — and 
after  ten  years  of  wedded  life  she  separated  from  him.  Her 
salon  became  the  rendezvous  of  all  the  distinguished  men  of 
the  Directory.  The  star  of  Napoleon  began  to  rise  and 
Madame  de  Stael  dreamed  of  being  the  "  Egeria  of  the  new 

365 


THE    HISTORY   OP    FRENCH   LITERATURE 

power."  But  soon  a  silent  antipathy  resulting  in  open  war- 
fare separated  "  the  generous  ideologist  and  the  authoritative 
Caesar."  And  during  the  entire  reign  of  Napoleon  the  life 
of  Madame  de  Stael  was  one  long  series  of  persecutions  and 
exile. 

Madame  de  Stael  was  a  great  conversationalist.  She  talked 
better  than  she  wrote:  the  animation  of  social  intercourse, 
the  play  of  repartee,  gave  to  her  elocution  a  color  and  a 
vivacity  she  did  not  always  succeed  in  conveying  with  the  pen. 
Her  books  have  the  fault  of  resembling  conversations,  and  of 
seeming  to  be  improvised ;  the  habit  of  philosophical  specula- 
tion has  given  her  literary  style,  even  in  descriptions  and 
romantic  stories,  something  of  an  abstract  character  which 
ends  by  becoming  tedious.  The  Lettres  sur  le  Caractere  et  les 
(Euvres  de  J.  J.  Rousseau  appeared  when  the  author  was 
twenty -two  years  old.  The  fundamental  thought  of  her  work, 
De  la  littcrature  consideree  dans  ses  rapports  avec  les  con- 
stitutions sociales  (Literature  in  its  Relation  to  Social  Institu- 
tions), which  appeared  in  1799,  is  the  idea  of  the  indefinite 
progress  of  the  human  species.  This  last  book  did  not  greatly 
please  Napoleon,  and  as  her  salon  had  become  the  rendezvous 
of  the  Liberals  who  discountenanced  the  military  coup  d'etat 
by  which  General  Bonaparte  had  come  into  power,  he  gave 
orders  to  Madame  de  Stael  to  leave  Paris,  and  not  to  approach 
it  nearer  than  forty  leagues.  This  was  a  terrible  punishment 
for  her ;  Paris,  with  the  conversation  of  its  brilliant  men,  was 
her  world.  She  went  to  Switzerland,  and  then  to  Germany, 
where  she  gathered  material  for  a  work  on  that  country.  Her 
curiosity  was  unlimited,  and  she  often  bored  her  hosts  because 
she  wanted  to  know  everything,  and  to  fathom  all  the 
phenomena  of  the  German  mind. 

Before  going  to  Germany  she  had  published  Delphine,  an 
epistolary  novel,  in  which  she  advanced  an  argument  of 
Madame  Necker,  her  mother:  "  A  man  must  know  how  to 
brave  public  opinion;  a  woman  must  submit  to  it."  In  this 
book  she  portrayed  her  own  unhappy  marriage  and  advocated 
divorce.  A  trip  to  Italy  inspired  another  novel,  Corinne,  ou 
I'ltalie — interesting  especially  as  an  autobiography,  and  full 
of  ideas.  In  this  celebrated  book  concerning  great  Italians  and 
their  work  Madame  de  Stael  sought  to  prove  that  literary 

366 


THE    NINETEENTH   CENTURY 

glory  is  not  compatible  with  the  happiness  incident  to  family 
affection.  In  the  opening  pages  we  see  Corinne — a  celebrated 
improvisatore  in  music  and  poetry — about  to  be  crowned  in 
the  Capitol,  as  Petrarch  was  before  her.  She  is  given  a  sub- 
ject: "  The  glory  of  Italy,"  and  improvises  beautiful  verses. 
Her  triumph  is  complete.  A  young  Englishman,  Oswald, 
devotes  himself  to  her ;  and  they  travel  together  through  Italy, 
talking  of  art,  history,  archaeology,  and  sometimes  of  love. 
Oswald  is  recalled  to  England  on  a  brief  mission;  but  his 
absence  is  prolonged.  So  Corinne,  who  is  of  English  origin, 
goes  to  seek  him  there,  and  arrives  in  time  to  be  present,  with- 
out being  seen,  at  the  marriage  of  her  own  sister  Lucile,  to 
Oswald.  Lucile  lacks  the  brilliant  talents  of  Corinne,  but  her 
modest  qualities  seemed  to  Oswald  to  give  greater  assurance 
of  domestic  happiness.  Corinne  dies  of  a  broken  heart.  This 
tale  is  an  original  work,  and  a  touching  one,  savoring  at  once 
of  the  novel,  the  poem,  and  the  philosophic  treatise ;  but  it  has 
one  noticeable  fault :  its  intended  enthusiasm  too  often  seems 
to  be  declamation.  In  it  Madame  de  Stael  portrays  her  ideal 
self,  in  contradistinction  to  Delphine,  wherein  she  describes 
her  real  self. 

The  success  of  Corinne  was  brilliant.  Napoleon  was  so 
affected  by  the  furor  caused  by  the  book  that  he  himself 
wrote  a  criticism  of  it  which  was  inserted  in  the  Moniteur. 

Before  Madame  de  Stael,  German  literature  was  unknown 
to  the  French.  She  took  a  glorious  initiative,  and  her  book 
De  I'Allemagne  (1810)  is  a  revelation  of  German  art  and 
civilization.  It  was  a  great  service  that  she  rendered  her 
countrymen:  to  them  she  revealed  the  literary  world  of 
Goethe,  Schiller,  Lessing,  Wieland,  and  Klopstock,  the  philo- 
sophic systems  of  Kant,  Schelling,  and  Fichte,  together  with 
a  highly  interesting  picture  of  the  manners  and  customs  of 
the  German  people.  When  De  I'Allemagne  appeared,  by  per- 
mission of  the  censor,  the  Emperor  had  all  the  copies  seized 
and  reduced  to  pulp.  He  reproached  Madame  de  Stael  osten- 
sibly for  ignoring  him,  yet  speaking  well  of  Germany,  with 
which  country  he  was  at  war.  The  real  cause  of  his  dis- 
pleasure was  the  liberal  ideas  advanced,  and  the  transparent 
allusions  to  his  military  despotism.  A  single  copy  escaped, 
which  made  it  possible  to  print  the  book  in  England  later. 

367 


Madame  de  Stael  had  resolved  to  go  to  that  country ;  but  this 
was  difficult,  as  at  that  moment  all  central  Europe  was  occupied 
by  the  French  armies.  She  succeeded  in  escaping  from  Switzer- 
land, an  umbrella  in  her  hand,  as  if  she  had  gone  out  for  a 
walk ;  she  traversed  Austria,  meeting  with  many  vexations,  and 
breathed  freely  only  when  she  reached  Russia.  She  has  told 
us,  in  her  Dix  annees  d'exil  (Ten  Years  in  Exile),  of  her 
wanderings  on  this  journey,  and  has  recorded  her  impressions 
of  the  people  and  the  Russian  cities  through  which  she  passed. 
She  was  well  received  in  Moscow,  where  the  French  had  not 
yet  come,  and  was  feted  by  the  Emperor  Alexander  and  his 
family  at  St.  Petersburg. 

In  1812,  at  the  age  of  forty-six,  Madame  de  Stael  had 
secretly  married  a  young  officer  of  twenty-three,  Albert  de 
Rocca.  After  the  fall  of  Napoleon,  she  returned  to  Paris, 
where  she  received  a  compensation  of  two  million  francs  due 
her  father  from  the  public  treasury.  In  Paris  Madame  de 
Stael  again  resumed  her  salon,  dispersed  by  Napoleon,  but  in 
1817  she  died  without  having  been  able  to  finish  her  two 
works:  Dix  annees  d'exil  and  Considerations  sur  la  Revolution 
frangaise.  The  last-named  book  together  with  Corinne  and 
De  I'Allemagne  are  her  three  best  productions. 

Of  the  many  salons  scattered  by  the  Revolution,  the  salon 
of  Madame  Helvetius  continued  during  the  formation  of  the 
different  governments,  and  became  the  society  of  the  ideolo- 
gists,1 who  exercised  such  an  important  role  from  1792  to  1802, 
and  whose  most  celebrated  expounders  were  Condorcet,  Saint- 
Lambert,  Destut  de  Tracy,2  Garat,  Volney.  Napoleon  was 
antagonistic  to  their  doctrine  and  denounced  them  as  im- 
practical theorists.3 

After  the  Revolution  other  salons  were  again  formed,  but 
with  the  new  political  and  literary  conditions,  their  influence 
was  never  again  so  great.  The  most  important  were  those  of 

1  Followers  of  ideology,  a  mental  philosophy  which  derives  knowledge 
exclusively  from  sensation. 

2  In  Les  Elements  d'ideologie. 

1  Mrs.  Browning  voices  the  same  sentiments  in  Aurora  Leigh  : 
"  Some  domestic  ideologue  who  sits 
And  coldly  chooses  empire,  where  as  well 
He  might  republic ! " 

368 


THE    NINETEENTH   CENTURY 

Madame  de  Girardin,  Madame  de  Genlis,  Madame  de  Beau- 
mont, Madame  de  Custine,  and  Madame  Recamier.  Madame 
de  Beaumont 's  salon  called  ' '  la  petite  societe, ' '  was  frequented 
by  Joubert,  the  incomparable  conversationalist,  and  Chateau- 
briand who  immortalized  her  in  his  Memoir es  d'outre-tombe. 
Madame  de  Custine  and  her  Chateau  de  Fervacques  also  find 
a  place  in  this  work  as  well  as  in  Le  Dernier  Abencerage, 
where  the  writer  describes  a  poetic  rendezvous  with  her  at  the 
ruins  of  the  Alhambra. 

The  salon  of  Madame  Recamier  was  particularly  cele- 
brated. Although  "  la  belle  Juliette  J>1  was  not  a  literary 
woman,  she  was  a  remarkable  conversationalist  with  a  marvel- 
ous aptitude  of  comprehension.  Her  husband,  a  rich  banker, 
surrounded  her  with  great  luxury,  and  at  her  hotel  in  the 
rue  des  Saint-Peres,  her  visitors  moved  in  a  "  quasi-religious 
awe  of  this  rare  flower  of  Paris."  After  the  loss  of  her 
husband 's  fortune,  Madame  Recamier  withdrew  to  the  country 
estate  of  Madame  de  Stael  at  Coppet.  Later  she  retired  to 
the  Abbaye-aux-Bois,  a  convent  reserved  not  only  for  a  reli- 
gious order  of  nuns,  but  as  a  place  of  seclusion  for  the  great 
ladies  of  the  world,  who  did  not  wish  entirely  to  renounce 
society.  Here  Madame  Recamier  continued  her  famous  salons 
at  which  shone  Chateaubriand  and  Lamartine,  and  where 
Victor  Hugo  made  his  debut  as  "  1'enfant  sublime." 

1  Madame  Recamier  was  the  model  for  the  famous  portrait  by  David  in 
the  Louvre,  which  is,  however,  only  a  sketch,  and  for  Canova's  bust  of 
Beatrix.  The  Souvenirs  et  Correspondence  tires  des  Papiers  de  Madame 
Rtcamier,  is  the  work  of  Madame  Lenonnand,  gathered  from  the  papers 
of  Madame  Recamier  after  her  death. 


CHAPTER   XXV 

THE   ROMANTICISTS 

THE  Romantic  movement  found  its  best  expression  in  four 
great  poets:  Lamartine,  "  a  revolutionist  without  knowing 
it  " ;  Hugo, ' '  an  exclusive  and  passionate  genius, ' '  who  under- 
took to  renew  poetry  and  prose;  de  Musset,  the  poet  of  love 
and  fantasy;  and  de  Vigny,  who  gave  romantic  poetry  its 
philosophical  and  symbolical  form.  After  these  great  masters 
came  Auguste  Barbier,  Brizeux,  Theophile  Gautier,  Sainte- 
Beuve,  and  others. 

Alphonse  de  Lamartine,  born  at  Macon  in  1790,  was  by 
parentage  Alphonse  du  Prat ;  but  he  inherited  the  fortune  and 
the  name  of  his  maternal  uncle,  de  Lamartine.  He  studied 
at  the  Jesuit  college  in  Belley,  and  completed  his  education 
by  travel.  In  1814  he  entered  the  King's  Bodyguards  as  an 
officer  of  cavalry ;  then,  after  two  years  of  service,  he  took  to 
traveling  once  more.  In  turn  historian,  publicist,  diplomat, 
orator,  and  politician,  he  was  a  participant  in  the  stormy  crises 
of  1848,  his  name  being  a  watchword  of  peace  and  security. 
When  it  was  learned  that  King  Louis-Philippe  had  just  left 
Paris,  he  was  put  at  the  head  of  the  Provisional  Government, 
and  twelve  departments  named  him  representative  of  the 
people.  He  owed  this  favor,  on  the  one  hand,  to  his  modera- 
tion, and,  on  the  other,  to  his  Histoire  des  Girondins,  which 
had  appeared  several  years  before,  and  had  been  read  with 
passionate  eagerness.  But  his  popularity  was  not  of  long 
duration ;  when  a  President  of  the  Republic  was  to  be  chosen 
he  obtained  only  a  small  number  of  votes  compared  with  the 
support  given  him  who  was  to  become  Napoleon  III.  So 
Lamartine  reentered  private  life. 

His  first  literary  work,  published  in  1820,  was  a  volume 
of  poems  entitled  Meditations  poetiques.  This  little  collection, 

370 


THE    ROMANTICISTS 

says  a  French  critic,  revealed  to  France  a  new  poetry  coming 
from  the  heart  in  fine  contrast  with  the  factitious  and  myth- 
ological lyrics  of  Jean-Baptiste  Rousseau  and  of  Lebrun.  The 
editor  was  persuaded  that  this  book  would  find  no  buyers 
because  it  "  resembled  nothing  ";  yet  forty-five  thousand 
copies  of  it  were  sold  in  four  years.  Its  vogue,  however,  was 
ephemeral.  In  fact,  not  a  few  of  Lamartine's  productions 
were  written  with  the  immediate  purpose  of  paying  his  debts, 
and  are  no  longer  read.  Lamartine  imitated  Byron,  but 
Byron's  power  of  passionate  speech  was  beyond  him:  the 
Dernier  chant  du  pelerinage  de  Cliilde  Harold,  and  the  Chute 
d'un  ange,  a  fantastic  poem  in  which  the  angel  Cedar, 
charged  with  watching  over  Dai'dha,  a  daughter  of  the  earth, 
is  smitten  with  love  to  the  point  of  renouncing  his  divine  na- 
ture and  sharing  his  lot  with  her,  are  obviously  weak  in  com- 
parison with  his  models.  Lamartine 's  Chant  du  sacre,  an  ode 
on  the  coronation  of  Charles  X,  won  for  him  the  cross  of  the 
Legion  of  Honor.  One  of  his  best  lyric  productions  is  Le  Lac, 
written  in  memory  of  Elvira,  the  lost  love  of  his  youth.  In 
his  Preludes  he  sings : 

Un  vent  caresse  ma  lyre: 
Est-ce  1'aile  d'un  oiseau? 
Sa  voix  dans  le  cceur  expire, 
Et  1'humble  corde  soupire 
Comme  un  flexible  roseau. 

The  style  of  these  poems  is  easy,  abundant,  brilliant;  yet 
wanting  in  precision  and  simplicity.  Lamartine's  rhymes  are 
often  bad,  his  expressions  vague,  and  his  style  meek  and 
melancholy.  His  great  merits  are  his  rich  imagination,  his 
wonderfully  melodious  language,  and  his  harmonious  versifica- 
tion; Lamartine  was  spoken  of  as  the  embodiment  of  poetry. 
He  himself  expressed  this  idea : 

Je  chant  ais,  mes  amis,  comme  1'homme  respire.1 

In  his  Harmonies  poetiques  et  religieuses  he  seems  to  have 
attained  the  acme  of  his  lyric  talents.  Lamartine's  Jocelyn, 

1 1  sang,  my  friends,  as  men  breathe. 
371 


THE    HISTORY    OF    FRENCH    LITERATURE 

a  tragic  poem  in  Alexandrine  verse,  is,  according  to  Beranger, 
the  best  work  of  French  narrative  poetry. 

His  novels  are  Les  Confidences,  Raphael,  Genevieve,  Le 
Tailleur  de  pierre  de  Saint-Point,  Graziella.  The  last-named 
tale  was  inspired  by  his  first  love,  Graziella,  the  daughter  of  a 
fisherman  of  the  Isle  of  Ischia.  Among  his  historical  works 
are  the  Voyage  en  Orient  and  the  Histoire  des  Girondins.  His 
literary  criticisms  embrace:  Le  Civilisateur  and  Portraits 
litteraires — the  Portraits  including  Bossuet,  Cicero,  Homer, 
Socrates,  Byron,  Nelson.  Lamartine,  by  way  of  national  com- 
pensation, received  the  interest  on  a  fund  of  500,000  francs, 
which  he  enjoyed  from  1867  up  to  the  time  of  his  death 
in  1869. 

VICTOR  HUGO 

Victor  Hugo  (born  in  1820  at  Besancon)  was,  at  different 
times,  a  royalist,  like  his  mother ;  a  Bonapartist,  like  his  father 
(who  was  a  general  of  the  Republic)  ;  and  a  democratic 
Republican  at  his  death. 

The  works  of  Victor  Hugo,  as  numerous  as  they  are  varied, 
attest  his  great  imagination  and  his  extraordinary  power  of 
thought.  He  is  one  of  the  first  among  the  French  lyric  poets ; 
it  is,  perhaps,  through  his  poetry,  rather  than  his  prose,  that 
his  fame  will  endure.  He  was  a  great  colorist,  a  great 
musician;  his  inspiration  is  true,  profound,  and  powerful. 
But  sometimes  his  style  lacks  purity  and  elegance ;  in  general, 
style  with  him  is  enriched  too  much  at  the  expense  of  the 
idea  and  feeling.  There  is  an  exuberance  of  words,  figures, 
images,  found  in  no  other  French  writer.  In  his  preface  to 
Cromwell  he  says : ' '  Poetry  has  three  ages,  of  which  each  cor- 
responds to  an  epoch  of  society :  the  ode,  the  epic,  the  drama. 
Primitive  times  are  lyrical,  ancient  times  are  epic,  modern 
times  are  dramatic.  The  ode  sings  eternity,  the  epic  solemnizes 
history,  the  drama  paints  life.  The  characteristic  of  the  first 
poetry  is  naivete;  of  the  second,  simplicity;  of  the  third, 
truth.  The  ode  lives  on  the  ideal,  the  epic  on  the  grandiose, 
the  drama  on  the  real.  This  triple  poetry  flows  from  three 
great  sources:  the  Bible,  Homer,  Shakespeare."  He  adds: 
' '  All  that  is  in  nature  is  in  art ' ' ;  which  has  led  a  French 
critic  to  comment:  "  With  this  last  principle,  which  ends  in 

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THE   ROMANTICISTS 

a  gross  realism,  Victor  Hugo  could  dare  everything.  He  did 
indeed  dare  everything:  by  the  side  of  pathetic  and  sublime 
scenes  he  placed  enormous  improbabilities,  absurdities,  hor- 
rors ;  he  made  to  triumph  on  the  stage  the  excesses  of  a  brutal 
and  repulsive  materialism.  It  is  to  be  regretted  that  a  talent 
so  beautiful  and  so  great  should  have  thus  let  itself  be  led 
astray  by  the  spirit  of  system,  by  a  badly  understood  imita- 
tion of  Shakespeare.  Without  considering  criticism  (criticism 
never  affected  Victor  Hugo)  and  the  protests  of  people  of 
taste,  he  persisted  in  his  course;  he  fabricated  successively 
several  dramas  based  on  antithesis  and  lyrical  tirade — dramas 
which,  galvanized  by  impossible  passions,  fell  flat  almost  at 
their  origin  despite  the  uproar  of  sectarians.  His  plays  are 
the  least  meritorious  of  his  works — wanting  in  dramatic 
development,  and  presenting  showy  characters  without  the 
semblance  of  real  life.  In  all  his  personages  the  studied  use 
of  antithesis  is  too  apparent :  we  see  in  Ruy  Bias  a  valet  and 
a  man  of  genius,  hi  Triboulet  the  sublime  father  who  is  also  a 
ridiculous  fool,  in  Marion  Delorme  a  courtesan  who  loves 
purely.  Of  all  his  dramas,  Hernani  and  Ruy  Bias  are  the 
only  ones  still  performed,  and  even  these  are  saved  from 
oblivion  by  virtue  of  the  lyric  passages. ' '  On  the  day  of  the 
first  performance  of  Hernani  there  was  a  veritable  battle 
on  the  floor  of  the  Theatre-Francais  between  the  partisans 
of  Racine,  of  the  classic  school,  and  the  admirers  of  Victor 
Hugo,  of  the  Romantic  School.  Younger  and  more  numerous, 
Hugo's  adherents  prevailed,  and  the  dramatic  innovation 
triumphed.1  His  plays  include:  Hernani — the  best  of  them; 
Cromwell;  Le  Roi  s'amuse;  Lucrece  Borgia;  Ruy  Bias; 
Angelo;  Marie  Tudor;  Marion  Delorme;  Les  Burgraves — his 
weakest  drama. 


HERNANI 

The  action  is  laid  in  Spain  in  the  sixteenth  century.    Dona 
Sol,  the  heroine,  is  courted  by  a  king  in  disguise ;  by  Hernani, 

1  Hugo  has  set  forth  the  doctrines  of  the  Romantic  School  in  the  preface 
of  his  drama  Cromwell.  He  defines  Cromwell  as  "an  Attila  made  by 
Machiavelli." 

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THE    HISTORY   OF    FRENCH   LITERATURE 

a  bandit;  and  by  the  duke,  old  Ruy  Gomez,  her  uncle  (in 
whose  house  she  is  living),  who  wishes  to  make  her  his  wife. 
One  evening,  while  she  is  awaiting  the  bandit,  the  king,  Don 
Carlos,  arrives,  and  conceals  himself  in  a  closet,  while  Dona 
Sol  and  Hernani  converse.  She  is  ready  to  leave  everything 
and  follow  Hernani  into  the  mountains.  But  old  Gomez  comes 
in,  and  is  furious  on  seeing  two  men  with  his  niece.  The  king, 
who  is  Charles  V,  calms  him  by  saying  that  he  came  to  consult 
him  on  a  matter  of  importance:  the  Emperor  Maximilian  is 
dead,  he  wishes  .to  get  into  line  to  succeed  him,  and  he  has 
come  to  talk  it  over.  As  for  Hernani,  says  the  king,  he  is  a 
gentleman  of  his  suite;  and  so  he  is  allowed  to  go.  This 
bandit,  Hernani,  is  a  great  personage,  Don  Juan  of  Aragon, 
who,  offended  with  the  king,  has  gone  to  live  as  an  outlaw  in 
the  mountains.  He  returns  the  next  day,  in  order  to  bear 
away  Dona  Sol;  but  the  king  spoils  it  all,  Hernani 's  band  is 
dispersed  and  a  price  is  set  on  his  head.  Dona  Sol  decides  to 
accept  the  hand  of  Ruy  Gomez,  but  is  resolved  to  stab  herself 
afterwards.  In  the  midst  of  the  preparations  for  the  wedding 
a  pilgrim  enters  to  whom  Gomez  extends  hospitality ;  but  the 
pilgrim,  seeing  what  is  going  on,  reveals  his  identity:  he  is 
Hernani.  Suddenly  the  sound  of  trumpets  announces  Don 
Carlos,  who  is  seeking  the  celebrated  bandit ;  but  Ruy  Gomez 
will  not  violate  the  laws  of  hospitality,  and  refuses  to  deliver 
his  enemy.  In  retaliation,  the  King  of  Spain  seizes  Dona  Sol. 
On  condition  that  he  will  aid  Ruy  Gomez  to  punish  the  king, 
the  bandit's  life  is  spared.  Hernani  gives  his  horn  to  Ruy 
Gomez,  swearing  on  his  honor  to  die  on  the  day  the  duke 
sounds  the  signal.  The  duke  and  the  brigand  join  a  con- 
spiracy which  is  on  the  point  of  breaking  forth  against  Don 
Carlos  in  Aix-La-Chapelle.  The  conspirators  meet  at  night 
in  the  vaults  of  the  ancient  cathedral  where  the  ashes  of 
Charlemagne  rest.  The  king,  who  has  gotten  wind  of  the 
enterprise,  is  there  before  them;  and  while  awaiting  their 
coming  he  thinks  of  Charlemagne,  and  in  a  celebrated  mono- 
logue asks  him  for  inspiration.  The  conspirators  assemble, 
and  the  king,  hidden  behind  a  pillar,  hears  them  swear  his 
death.  Hernani  is  designated  by  lot  to  assassinate  him.  Then 
Don  Carlos  comes  out  of  the  shadow,  and  his  soldiers  sur- 
round the  conspirators,  who  would  be  lost  if  the  tomb  of 

374 


THE    ROMANTICISTS 

Charlemagne  had  not  inspired  the  king  to  generosity.  He 
pardons  his  enemies,  restores  Hernani's  title,  and  yields  Doila 
Sol  to  him.  The  marriage  is  celebrated;  but  Gomez,  still 
jealous,  sounds  the  horn  in  the  midst  of  their  happiness. 
Hernani  requests  a  respite ;  the  old  man  will  not  grant  it.  So 
Hernani  takes  poison,  and  Dona  Sol,  seizing  the  vial  from  his 
hand,  drinks  what  remains,  and  they  die  together.  Verdi's 
opera  Ernani  is  founded  on  Hugo's  play.  When  it  came 
to  be  performed  in  France,  in  1864,  the  characters  were  made 
Italian  and  the  title  was  changed  to  II  Proscritto,  at  Victor 
Hugo's  request. 


RUY  BLAS 

This  is  the  only  drama  in  which  Hugo,  acting  on  his  own 
theory,  mingled  the  tragic  and  the  comic.  The  action  takes 
place  in  Spain  during  its  decadence.  The  queen,  in  her  walk 
through  the  park,  finds  each  day  a  bouquet  of  flowers  on  a 
bench — blue  flowers  from  her  native  Germany,  and  very  rare 
in  Spain.  An  unknown  person  brings  her  this  gift  at  the 
peril  of  his  life;  the  walls  are  marked  with  fragments  of  his 
lace  cuffs.  With  the  last  bouquet  is  a  note  in  which  he  com- 
pares himself  to  a  moth  in  love  with  a  star.  Several  days 
thereafter  the  queen  discovers  the  unknown  lover  in  a  mes- 
senger who  has  come  to  bring  her  a  letter  from  the  king 
(Charles  II),  who  is  hunting,  and  does  not  appear  in  the 
play.  The  queen  has  had  cause  to  complain  of  the  minister 
of  police,  Don  Salluste ;  she  has  had  him  removed  from  office, 
and  exiled.  He,  in  turn,  has  sworn  to  be  avenged,  and  having 
by  chance  learned  the  sentiments  of  his  servant  (the  unknown 
lover)  for  the  queen,  he  manages  to  bring  him  in  contact  with 
her.  Don  Salluste  then  has  his  own  cousin,  Don  Cesar  de 
Bazan,  taken  by  the  police  and  conducted  far  from  Spain; 
and  presents  to  the  court  his  servant,  Ruy  Bias,  under  the 
name  of  Don  Cesar,  returned  from  a  long  voyage.  The  queen 
becomes  the  protectress  of  the  spurious  Don  Cesar,  and  soon 
makes  him  her  premier,  meanwhile  remaining  quite  invisible 
to  him.  Ruy  Bias,  now  become  a  chancellor  of  the  kingdom, 
reforms  abuses,  and  governs  with  a  firm  hand.  The  queen,  at 

375 


THE    HISTORY    OF    FRENCH   LITERATURE 

the  end  of  a  scene  in  which  he  has  shown  himself  truly  great, 
can  no  longer  conceal  her  love  for  him.  But  Don  Salluste 
suddenly  appears ;  he  has  returned  to  Madrid  under  a  disguise, 
and  meets  Ruy  Bias  in  a  mysterious  house.  Salluste  indeed 
wishes  to  lure  the  queen  into  this  house,  reveal  to  her  the  iden- 
tity of  Ruy  Bias,  and  get  her  to  leave  Spain  with  him.  The 
queen  falls  into  the  trap;  Don  Salluste  explains  how  he  has 
avenged  himself,  and  what  he  expects  of  her.  Ruy  Bias  there- 
upon runs  him  through  with  a  sword,  and,  taking  poison,  casts 
himself  at  the  feet  of  the  queen,  asking  her  grace  and  pardon. 
The  queen  embraces  him  and  avows  her  love  for  him;  and 
Ruy  Bias  dies,  happy  in  this  love. 

In  Le  Roi  s'amuse 1 — an  historical  drama  introducing 
Francis  I  and  his  fool  Triboulet — Hugo  displays  his  pre- 
dilection for  contrasting  the  beautiful  with  the  ugly ;  it  proved 
so  repulsive  to  contemporary  taste  that  only  two  performances 
of  it  were  permitted.  Marie  Tudor  is  also  an  "  historical  " 
drama,  setting  forth  the  invented  story  of  Mary's  love  for 
an  Italian,  Fabiani,  who  in  turn  loves  a  peasant  girl.  He 
is  therefore  arrested  and  condemned  to  death,  but  escapes. 

Hugo's  works  in  prose  are  very  numerous,  and  quite  in- 
ferior to  his  poetry.  His  two  great  novels  are  Notre-Dame  de 
Paris  and  Les  Miserables;  the  others  are:  I'Homme  qui  rit 
(The  Man  who  Laughs)  ;  Quatre-vingt-treize  (Ninety-three)  ; 
Les  Travaillcurs  de  la  mer  (The  Toilers  of  the  Sea) ;  Claude 
Gueux;  Le  dernier  jour  d'un  condamne  (The  Last  Day  of  a 
Condemned  Man)  ;  Han  d'Islande;  Bug  Jar  gal. 

Notre-Dame  de  Paris  is  one  of  the  most  powerful  and  most 
dramatic  works  of  this  type.  It  is  a  magnificent  archaeological 
study.2  The  story  opens  with  the  representation  of  a  ' '  mora- 
lite  "  play;  then  he  who  is  able  to  make  the  most  hideous 
grimace  is  elected  pope  of  the  fools.  The  successful  candidate 

1  The  libretto  of  Verdi's  opera,  Rigoletto,  is  based  on  this  play. 

2  Robert  Louis  Stevenson  writes:  "The  moral  end  that  the  author  had 
before  him  in  the  conception  of  Notre-Dame  de  Paris  was  to  denounce  the 
external  fatality  that  hangs  over  men  in  the  form  of  foolish  and  inflexible 
superstitions.     To  speak  plainly,  this  moral  purpose  seems  to  have  mighty 
little  to  do  with  the  artistic  conception;  moreover,  it  is  very  questionably 
handled,  while  the  artistic  conception  is  developed  with  the  most  consum- 
mate success." 

376 


THE    ROMANTICISTS 

appears  at  a  window ;  it  is  Quasimodo  who  is  chosen,  and  we 
are  astonished  to  see  that  this  grimace  we  have  applauded  is 
his  natural  expression.  He  is  the  bell  ringer  of  Notre-Dame ; 
hump-backed,  lame,  and  deaf,  but  devoted  to  the  man  who 
picked  him  up  as  a  child  on  the  steps  of  the  cathedral,  and 
also  to  Esmeralda,  who  gave  him  water  to  drink  one  day  when 
he  was  dying  of  thirst  in  the  pillory.  Esmeralda  is  a  beautiful 
and  wild  young  gypsy,  who  dances  in  public  places,  accom- 
panied by  a  goat  which  she  has  taught  to  imitate  certain  great 
persons  and  to  write  by  means  of  movable  letters.  These 
gifts  cause  her  to  be  accused  of  sorcery  and  brought  to  the 
scaffold.  The  dramatic  interest  consists  in  the  circumstance 
that  Quasimodo  is  forced  to  sacrifice  one  of  the  two  persons 
to  whom  he  is  devoted,  in  order  to  save  the  other.  Claude 
Frollo  (an  archdeacon  of  the  Church  of  Notre-Dame),  his 
foster-father,  and  the  benefactor  of  his  youth,  persecutes 
Esmeralda  with  offensive  attentions.  Kepulsed  by  the  young 
woman,  his  passion  is  changed  to  hate,  and  he  obtains  her 
condemnation  by  his  efforts.  Although  Quasimodo  cannot 
save  her  from  punishment,  he  avenges  her  by  hurling  Claude 
Frollo  from  the  top  of  the  tower  of  Notre-Dame  on  the  very 
place  of  Esmeralda 's  execution.  Two  years  later  Quasimodo's 
skeleton  is  found  in  Esmeralda 's  grave. 

Les  Miserables,  a  social  novel,  has  for  its  hero  Jean  Val- 
jean, condemned  to  the  convict  prison  for  stealing  bread,  one 
day  when  his  sister's  children  were  hungry.  He  is  released 
at  an  advanced  age,  and  with  a  passport  which,  in  setting 
forth  that  he  had  been  a  felon,  closes  all  doors  to  him.  One 
person,  however,  does  not  turn  him  away — the  holy  Bishop, 
Myriel,  worthy  of  the  earliest  period  of  Christianity.  Valjean 
repays  the  bishop 's  charity  by  stealing  his  silver  plate.  When 
arrested  and  brought  before  the  bishop,  the  holy  man  declares 
that  his  candlesticks  were  not  stolen,  but  that  he  had  given 
them  to  the  convict.  Valjean  is  touched  deeply;  henceforth 
he  is  an  honest  man.  Through  his  energy  and  ability  he 
becomes  rich,  and  occupies  an  honorable  place  in  society,  only 
to  learn  that  an  innocent  man  is  about  to  be  condemned  to 
the  galleys  in  his  stead.  So  he  makes  himself  known,  and 
once  more  becomes  a  convict.  But  he  escapes,  and  returns  to 
Paris,  in  order  to  take  care  of  a  little  girl,  Cosette,  whom  a 

377 


THE    HISTORY   OF   FRENCH   LITERATURE 

wretched  woman,  on  her  deathbed  in  a  hospital,  had  previously 
confided  to  his  care.  After  many  efforts,  he  finds  her,  rears 
her  with  loving  care,  and  then  disappears  that  she  may  wed 
her  lover,  Harms,  who,  together  with  Cosette,  forget  Jean 
Valjean  in  the  egotism  of  their  love. 

Les  Miserables  is  a  sort  of  humanitarian  novel,  containing 
very  beautiful  passages  and  also  some  unnecessary  chapters. 

Le  Dernier  jour  d'un  condamne  is  a  psychological  study 
of  the  pangs  of  death.  Claude  Gueux  is  a  realistic  novel.  In 
the  Travailleurs  de  la  mer  the  terrible  phenomena  of  the  sea 
constitute  the  principal  interest.  The  chapter  descriptive  of 
the  fight  with  the  devilfish  is  one  of  the  most  remarkable  in 
the  book.  The  basis  of  the  novel,  L'Homme  qui  rit,  is  an 
antithesis  between  moral  beauty  and  physical  deformity — a 
characteristic  trait  of  Hugo's  style.  Bug  Jargal,  wrhich  deals 
with  the  rebellion  of  the  negroes  of  San  Domingo  against  the 
French,  and  Han  d'Islande,  whose  hero  is  a  man-eater,  are 
examples  of  the  author's  skill  in  treating  the  atrocious  and  the 
horrible,  a  tendency  which  led  Heine  to  call  Hugo  a  "  de- 
formed genius. ' ' *  Quatre-vingt-treize  is  an  episode  of  the  in- 
surrection of  the  people  of  La  Vendee  and  Brittany  against 
the  First  Republic. 

Among  Hugo 's  critical  works  and  pamphlets  are  Napoleon 
le  petit,  a  virulent  attack  on  Napoleon  III,  in  which  he 
describes  the  coup  d'etat.  The  Histoire  d'un  crime  is  a  de- 
tailed recital  of  the  coup  d'etat  of  1851. 

Hugo's  real  glory  lies  in  his  gifts  as  a  lyric  poet.  The 
most  of  the  poems  in  the  Odes  and  Ballades  are  political  and 
royalist,  but  in  the  Ballades  the  author  has  also  tried  to  give 
us  some  idea  of  what  the  poems  of  the  first  troubadours  were 
like.  Les  Orientates  is  a  collection  of  brilliant  and  magnifi- 
cent verses.  It  opens  with  Le  Feu  du  del,  in  which  the  poet 
describes  the  terrible  catastrophe  that  engulfed  Sodom  and 
Gomorrah.  A  great  number  of  the  poems  are  related  to  the 
Orient,  Turkey,  Greece — which  was  then  struggling  for  its 
independence — and  to  Moorish  Spain.  Les  Tetes  du  Serail, 
in  this  collection,  describes  the  frightful  dialogue  of  three 

1  Renouvier  declared  that  Hugo  was  "more  craftsman  than  artist,"  and 
Amiel  called  him  "half  genius,  half  charlatan." 

378 


THE   ROMANTICISTS 

amputated  heads — the  heads  of  three  Greek  chieftains  hung 
on  the  gratings  of  a  palace.  But  the  gem  of  this  volume  is 
Fantomes.  In  Les  Feuilles  d'autonme  (Leaves  of  Autumn) 
are  collected  many  poems  of  melancholy  charm.  Les  Chants 
du  Crepuscule  (Songs  of  Twilight)  are  poems  inspired  by 
this  thought:  "  Everything  to-day,  in  ideas  as  in  things,  in 
society  as  in  the  individual,  is  at  the  stage  of  dawn."  This 
' '  stage  of  dawn  ' '  was  not  only  in  society ;  it  was  especially  at 
this  time  in  the  soul  of  the  poet. 

Les  Ckdtiments  (Chastisement)  is  a  violent  satire  against 
the  men  of  the  Second  Empire,  and  Hugo's  masterpiece  as  a 
satirical  poet.  That  part  of  the  poem  known  as  I' Expiation  is 
especially  grand.  The  collection  is  divided  into  seven  books, 
the  subjects  of  which  indicate  ironically  the  different  moral 
phases  of  the  coup  d'etat:  "  Society  is  Saved  ";  "  Order  is 
Reestablished  ";  "  The  Family  is  Restored  ";  "  Religion  is 
Glorified";  "Authority  is  Sacred";  "Stability  is  As- 
sured " ;  ' '  The  Deliverers  will  Deliver  Themselves. ' ' 

In  L'Annee  terrible  the  poet  has  pictured  the  stirring 
events  of  "the  terrible  year,"  from  the  capitulation  of  Sedan 
in  1870  until  the  end  of  July,  1871.  La  Legende  des  siecles 
(The  Legend  of  the  Ages)  is  a  magnificent  and  prodigious  epic 
written  as  a  series  of  narratives  which  embrace  all  history 
since  creation.  Among  other  poems  are :  Les  Voix  interieures 
(Inner  Voices) ;  Les  Rayons  et  les  ombres  (Rays  and  Shad- 
ows) ;  Les  Contemplations;  Les  Religions  et  la  Religion; 
I'Ane  (The  Ass)  ;  Les  Quatre  vents  de  I'esprit  (The  Four 
Winds  of  the  Mind). 

Hugo 's  amazing  egotism — a  curious  feature  of  his  genius — 
finds  characteristic  expression  in  his  poem,  Mon  Enfance  (My 
Childhood).  It  is  further  illustrated  in  an  anecdote  related 
by  Mr.  Henry  "Wellington  Wack :  "  In  Les  Travailleurs  de  la 
mer  you  will  find  the  picture  of  a  Scotch  Highlander  playing 
the  bagpipe.  Throughout  the  novel  the  author  calls  it  a  '  bug- 
pipe.'  Some  of  the  people  of  Guernsey  who  sprang  from  the 
North  Country  protested  against  the  burlesque  upon  their 
national  musical  instrument :  '  There  is  no  such  word  as  bug- 
pipe;  it  is  bagpipe — bagpipe — bag — !  '  '  It  is  bugpipe,'  re- 
torted the  poet,  '  because  I,  Victor  Hugo,  poet,  dramatist,  peer 
of  France,  etc.,  say  so.  What  I  write  becomes  right  because  I 

379 


THE    HISTORY   OF    FRENCH   LITERATURE 

write  it.    The  howling  hullabaloo  looks  like  a  bug,  and  I  say 
it  shall  be  a  bugpipe.'  ' 

Some  of  Hugo 's  poems  are  eloquent  with  his  ineffable  ten- 
derness for  children;  there  is  nothing  more  charming  of  this 
kind  than  his  verses  in  Les  Feuilles  d'Automne: 

II  est  si  beau,  1'enfant,  avec  son  doux  sourire, 
Sa  douce  bonne  foi,  sa  voix  qui  veut  tout  dire; 

Ses  pleurs  vite  apaise's, 
Laissant  errer  sa  vue  4tonnee  et  ravie, 
Offrant  de  toutes  parts  sa  jeune  ame  a  la  vie 

Et  sa  bouche  aux  baisers! 

Hugo  began  to  write  poetry  when  he  was  fourteen  years 
old,  and  at  the  age  of  twenty-two  he  had  received  three  prizes 
from  the  Academy.  The  prix  des  jeux  floraux  of  Toulouse 
was  awarded  him  for  his  odes:  Les  Vierges  de  Verdun,  Le 
Retablissement  de  la  statue  de  Henri  IV,  and  Mo'ise  sur  le  Nil 
(Moses  on  the  Nile). 

These  odes  also  brought  him  material  success  in  the  form  of 
a  pension  of  two  thousand  francs  from  Louis  XVIII ;  and  this 
enabled  him  to  marry  the  playmate  of  his  youth,  Adele 
Foucher.  Mr.  Henry  Wellington  Wack,  in  his  Romance  of 
Victor  Hugo  and  Juliette  Drouet,  writes : ' '  Madame  Hugo  died 
in  1868,  thirty-five  years  conscious  of  Juliette  Drouet 's  *  part 
in  her  husband's  life.  .  .  .  That  the  legal  wife  should  submit 
to  a  mistress  being  installed  in  a  house  a  few  hundred  feet  from 
her  own,  and  even  consent  to  visit  her  and  permit  her  sons 
and  daughters  to  do  so  throughout  a  long  term  of  years — all 
as  a  concession  to  the  waywardness  of  genius — is  an  example 
of  wifely  self-abnegation  which  would  have  done  credit  to 
Chaucer 's  patient  Griselda.  He  generally  dined  with  Madame 
Drouet,  often  with  his  sons  and  friends.  The  latter  would 
generally  pay  their  respects  to  Madame  Hugo  first,  then  pass 
on  down  the  street  to  the  livelier  social  condition  of  Madame 
Drouet 's  "  petit  salon."  That  strange  and  uncouth  combina- 
tion— the  beautiful  and  the  sublime  hand  in  hand  with  the 
ugly,  the  grotesque,  the  uncanny — thus  characterizes  not  only 
Hugo 's  works,  but  his  life  as  well. ' ' 

Honor  and  glory  attended  Hugo's  career.    In  1841  he  was 

1  Madame  Drouet  was  an  actress  of  mediocre  talent. 
380 


THE    ROMANTICISTS 

received  as  a  member  of  the  French  Academy ;  two  years  later 
he  was  raised  to  the  dignity  of  a  peer  of  France.  Then  he 
entered  politics,  and  embraced  the  most  radical  ideas;  his 
name  is  identified  with  various  episodes  of  the  national  history 
of  France.  Under  the  Second  Empire  he  was  proscribed  for 
twenty  years,  and  took  refuge  in  Guernsey. 

Hugo  rose  at  three  o  'clock  in  the  morning  and  worked  un- 
til noon.  The  rest  of  the  day  was  devoted  to  reading,  corre- 
spondence, and  walks;  he  retired  every  evening  at  half  past 
nine.  Of  an  iron  constitution,  he  worked  in  an  immense 
glass  cage,  without  blinds,  which  opened  on  the  sparkling  sea, 
"with  a  broiling  sun  and  a  roar  that  would  daze  anyone  else." 
It  is  related  of  him  that  when  in  Guernsey  he  was  accustomed 
to  bathe  standing  in  a  tub  of  water  on  the  roof,  near  the 
rain  gutter,  even  in  winter  when  it  was  freezing. 

Greeted  by  Chateaubriand  as  the  enfant  sublime,  his  lit- 
erary career  endured  for  more  than  sixty  years.  He  was  the 
soul  of  the  Cenacle — a  society  of  young  poets  whom  love 
of  letters  and  a  certain  community  of  tastes  and  sentiment 
brought  into  close  relation.  The  Cenacle  flourished  about 
1828,  and  among  its  members  were  A.  de  Vigny,  Soumet, 
Sainte-Beuve,  Resseguier,  Beauchesne,  Guiraud,  J.  Lefevre, 
E.  Deschamps,  and  de  Musset. 

When  Hugo  died  in  1885,  at  the  age  of  eighty-three  years, 
the  entire  world  took  part  in  his  funeral.  Behind  the  poor 
man 's  hearse  on  which  his  coffin  had  been  placed,  more  than  a 
hundred  thousand  persons  followed.  His  body,  after  lying  in 
state  under  the  Arc  de  Triomphe,  which  had  been  transformed 
into  a  mortuary  chamber,  was  transfered  to  the  Pantheon. 
All  France  mourned  the  death  of  its  great  poet. 

DE  MUSSET 

After  Villon,  lyric  poetry  in  France  suffered  an  eclipse  from 
which  it  did  not  emerge  for  three  hundred  years :  not  until  the 
coming  of  Chenier  and  the  poets  of  the  early  part  of  the  nine- 
teenth century.  Of  its  three  foremost  modern  interpreters, 
Hugo  is  perhaps  the  most  popular  by  virtue  of  his  variety  and 
his  command  of  words.  In  elevation  of  thought  he  is  some- 
what below  Lamartine.  Musset — who  was  not  at  first  fully  ap- 
preciated by  the  French — surpasses  him  in  lightness,  elegance, 

381 


THE    HISTORY    OP    FRENCH   LITERATURE 

and  facility.  Rhythmically,  says  one  critic,  Musset  is  the  most 
fascinating  poet  of  France — a  poet  who  fills  the  soul  with  his 
magical  music.  Musset  was  the  poet  par  excellence  of  love 
and  passion.  Sainte-Beuve  in  his  Causeries  du  lundi  writes: 
' '  So  long  as  there  is  a  France  and  French  poetry,  the  passions 
of  Musset  will  live  as  do  the  passions  of  Sappho." 

Louis  Charles  Alfred  de  Musset,  born  at  Paris  in  1810,  of  a 
family  of  men  of  letters,  was  a  brilliant  student,  and  com- 
pleted his  studies  at  the  age  of  seventeen  years,  winning  the 
"  grand  prix  "  for  philosophy.  He  tried  his  hand  at  several 
careers — medicine,  law,  banking,  painting,  and  in  each  case 
unsuccessfully.  In  1830,  at  the  age  of  twenty  years,  he  was 
the  youngest  and  one  of  the  most  brilliant  among  the  habitues 
of  the  Cenacle,  in  the  salon  of  Victor  Hugo.  There  one 
evening,  he  won  recognition  as  a  poet  by  reading,  before  the 
Cenacle,  to  its  astonishment  and  delight,  a  poem  in  eulogy  of 
the  Master,  Victor  Hugo.  Happy  and  proud  at  being  ap- 
plauded, Alfred  de  Musset,  until  then  idle  and  dissipated,  set 
seriously  to  work,  and  entered  upon  literary  life  by  publish- 
ing a  volume  of  verse  entitled  Conies  d'Espagne  et  d'ltalie. 
This  blustering  and  mocking  collection  of  poems  was  followed 
by  Un  Spectacle  dans  un  fauteuil,  dedicated  to  his  friend 
Tattel,  containing  a  drama,  La  coupe  et  les  levres  (The  Cup 
and  the  Lips)  ;  a  comedy,  A  quoi  revent  les  jeunes  files;  an 
elegy,  Le  Saule  (The  Willow)  ;  and  a  narrative  poem,  ATa- 
mouna,  very  much  in  the  style  of  Byron's  Don  Juan.  His 
four  Nuits  (Mai,  Decembre,  Aout,  Octobre)  are  his  master- 
pieces— the  most  pathetic  songs  that  love  and  suffering  have 
ever  inspired. 

Musset  published  in  the  Revue  des  Deux  Mondes  a  series  of 
Nouvelles  and  stories  which  were  later  combined  in  two  vol- 
umes. The  Poesies  Nouvelles  express  all  the  melancholy,  bit- 
ter regret,  and  lost  hopes  that  his  heart  contained.  His  grace- 
ful Comedies  et  Proverbes  are  dramatic  pieces  which  he  had 
not  written  to  be  performed.  On  ne  badine  pas  avec  V amour 
(Trifle  not  with  Love),  perfect  in  conception  and  language, 
and  La  Quenouille  de  Barberine  (Barberine's  Distaff)  are 
among  the  prettiest  of  his  comedies. 

The  drama,  Andre  del  Sarto,  is  a  masterpiece  of  truth 
and  passion.  One  of  the  most  celebrated  Italian  painters  of 

382 


THE    ROMANTICISTS 

the  sixteenth  century,  Andre,  has  received  from  Francis  I  of 
France  considerable  sums  of  money  with  which  to  buy  pic- 
tures in  Italy.  His  young  wife  loves  pleasure,  and  Andre 
gratifies  her  cravings  without  counting  the  cost — promising 
himself  to  make  good  by  his  work  what  she  has  spent.  Con- 
fronted with  the  loss  of  his  honor,  he  discovers  at  the  same 
time  that  this  woman,  for  whom  he  sacrificed  so  much,  loves 
another — his  favorite  pupil,  whom  he  had  brought  up  in  his 
own  house.  The  sorrow  of  the  old  painter  is  the  more  poign- 
ant inasmuch  as  he  can  blame  neither  his  wife  nor  her  lover, 
who  have  not  ceased  to  respect  and  venerate  him.  So  he 
leaves  them  free  to  marry  by  killing  himself. 

In  prose  de  Musset  wrote  a  great  autobiographic  novel, 
La  Confession  d'un  enfant  du  siecle,  in  which,  under  the 
transparent  veil  of  romance,  he  narrates  the  history  of  his 
stormy  youth.  It  is  the  record  of  the  disenchantment  he  ex- 
perienced during  his  breaking  off  with  George  Sand,  who  had 
taken  care  of  him  when  he  was  dangerously  ill  at  Venice. 
They  soon  separated,  but  the  following  year,  in  Paris,  they 
were  again  the  best  of  friends.  In  his  Lettres  de  Dupuis  d 
Cotonnet,  Musset  pokes  fun  at  the  Romanticists. 

Musset 's  is  an  original  lyric  talent  compounded  of  strange- 
ness and  beauty.  He  set  great  store  by  his  originality,  and 
indignantly  denied  that  in  Namouna  he  had  imitated  Byron. 
In  verses  addressed  to  a  friend  he  says: 

On  m'a  dit  Tan  passe"  que  j'imitais  Byron; 

Vous,  qui  me  connaissez,  vous  savez  bien  que  non. 

Je  hais  comme  la  mort  1'etat  de  plagiaire ; 

Mon  verre  n'est  pas  grand,  mais  je  bois  dans  mon  verre.1 
Again : 

Byron,  me  direz-vous,  m'a  servi  de  modele. 

Vous  ne  savez  done  pas  qu'il  imitait  Pulci? 

Rien  n'appartient  a  rien,  tout  appartient  a  +ous. 

C'est  imiter  quelqu'un  que  de  planter  des  choux.2 

1  It  has  been  said  to  me  in  the  past  year  that  I  imitate  Byron;  you  who 
know  me,  know  well  that  it  is  not  so.     I  have  a  mortal  hatred  for  plagia- 
rism; my  glass  is  not  large,  but  I  drink  in  my  (own)  glass. 
2  Byron,  you  tell  me,  has  served  me  as  a  model. 
Do  you  not  know  then  that  he  imitated  Pulci? 
Nothing  belongs  to  anybody,  everything  belongs  to  everybody. 
Planting  cabbages  is  imitating  somebody. 
383 


THE    HISTORY   OF    FRENCH   LITERATURE 

This  was  a  variation  of  Moliere's  famous  saying:  "  Je 
prends  mon  bien  on  je  le  trouve  "  ("I  take  my  own  where  I 
find  it  ")  ;  nevertheless,  we  cannot  help  perceiving  that  his 
Mardoche  and  Namouna  are  very  much  in  the  manner  of 
Byron. 

Musset  took  especial  delight  in  scoffing  at  the  critics.  In 
his  Ballade  a  la  Lune,  he  commences  by  putting  this  strophe 
before  them  to  feed  on : 

C'e"tait  dans  la  nuit  brune; 
Sur  un  clocher  jauni 

La  lune 
Comme  un  point  sur  un  i  .  .  .  etc. 

We  can  imagine  the  concert  of  critical  declamation  that 
this  violation  of  the  classic  rules  provoked.  The  poet,  who 
had  sought  to  mystify  his  critics,  replied : 

On  dit,  maitres,  on  dit  qu'  alors  votre  sourcil, 
En  voyant  cette  lune  et  ce  point  sur  cet  i, 
Prit  1'effroyable  aspect  d'un  accent  circonflexe.1 

A  critic  says  of  de  Musset :  ' '  He  is  an  adorable  and  imper- 
tinent frolicsome  child;  he  defies,  braves,  and  banters  at  the 
same  time  the  bewildered  reader,  who  tires  himself  out  trying 
to  follow  him  in  his  rapid  and  fantastic  course. 

Musset  died  in  1857,  and  was  buried  in  the  Pere-Lachaise, 
where,  according  to  his  wish,  expressed  in  his  poem  Lucie,  a 
weeping  willow  shades  his  grave :  ' '  ou  la  bouche  sourit  et  les 
yeux  vont  pleurer,"  with  the  following  stanza  carved  in  the 
stone : 

Mes  chers  amis,  quand  je  mourrai, 

Plantez  un  saule  au  cimetitire. 

J'aime  son  feuillage  e'plore', 

1  These  verses  and  the  preceding  ones,  rather  too  fantastic  for  success- 
ful rendering  into  English,  are  easy  to  understand  however:  "The  moon 
standing  out  in  the  sky  over  a  steeple  and  looking  like  a  dot  over  an  i"; 
and  "  'tis  said,  my  masters,  that  upon  seeing  that  moon  and  that  dot  over 
the  i,  your  brows  knit  into  a  frightful  circumflex  accent." 

384 


THE    ROMANTICISTS 

Sa  p&leur  m'en  est  douce  et  chere, 
Et  son  ombre  sera  16gere 
A  la  terre  ou  je  dormirai. 

"Be  assured,"  says  Rocheblave,  "that,  on  calm  nights,  the 
somber  yew  tree  of  Nohant1  and  the  pale  willow  of  Pere 
Lachaise  bend  toward  each  other,  attracted,  as  it  were,  by 
instinct;  and  that,  despite  the  distance,  the  same  caressing 
breeze  comes  to  kiss  them  and  murmur  in  their  foliage  fra- 
ternal words. ' ' 2 


ALFRED  DE  VIGNY 

Count  Alfred  de  Vigny  was  born  of  a  patrician  family,  at 
Loches  in  Touraine,  in  1797.  His  father  was  an  old  cavalry 
officer,  distinguished  in  the  Seven  Years'  War;  his  mother  was 
the  daughter  of  an  admiral.  In  his  youth  he  was  fed  with 
tales  of  battle  and  the  sea.  "I  always  loved  to  listen,"  he 
has  said,  ' '  and  when  I  was  a  child  I  early  contracted  the  taste 
for  these  things  while  seated  on  the  wounded  knees  of  my  old 
father.  At  first  he  told  me  stories  of  his  campaigns,  and,  on 
his  lap,  I  found  war  seated  beside  me.  He  showed  me  war 
in  his  wounds,  war  in  the  parchments  and  blazons  of  his 
fathers,  war  in  the  great  ancestral  portraits  of  men  in  armor, 
which  were  hung  in  Beauce  in  an  old  chateau." 

Alfred  de  Vigny  was  a  royal  musketeer,  then  an  infantry 
captain;  but,  a  stranger  to  every  favor,  he  retired  from  the 
service  in  1828,  to  devote  himself  more  freely  to  poetry.  At 
the  age  of  twenty-six  years,  his  beautiful  imagination  had  al- 
ready taken  its  poetic  flight;  and  when  Victor  Hugo,  at  the 
height  of  his  glory,  opened  his  salon  to  younger  talent,  de 
Vigny  was  among  the  first  in  the  Cenacle. 

An  adept  in  Romanticism,  de  Vigny  approaches  the  classic 
by  his  carefulness  of  form  and  the  elegance  of  his  verse;  his 

1  George  Sand  is  buried  there,  with  a  yew  tree  on  her  tomb. 

2  The  best  translation  of  lyric  poetry  is  necessarily  such  a  feeble  render- 
ing of  the  original  that  it  is  quite  impossible  for  readers  unfamiliar  with 
French  to  comprehend  the  poetic  genius  of  Hugo  and  Musset.     It  may  be 
added  that  Taine,  while  admitting  that  France  has  produced  no  great  poet, 
puts  Musset  above  Tennyson. 

26  385 


THE   HISTORY    OF   FRENCH   LITERATURE 

lyric  poems  have  an  exquisite  grace  and  purity.  He  drew 
his  inspiration  from  the  Bible,  Dante,  Milton,  Klopstock  and 
Ossian.  The  majority  of  the  poems  in  Poemes  antiques  et 
modernes  were  written  during  the  military  life  of  the  author, 
and  were  reclassified  as  follows:  Poemes  mystiques:  Mo'ise, 
Eloa,  Le  Deluge;  Poemes  Antiques:  La  Fille  de  Jephte,  La 
femme  adultere,  Le  Bain  de  Suzanne,  La  Dryade,  La  Som- 
nambule,  Le  Bain  d'une  dame  romaine,  Symetha;  Poemes 
modernes:  La  Neige,  Le  Cor,  Le  Bal,  Dolorida,  Madame  de 
Soubise,  La  Prison,  Le  Trappiste,  La  Serieuse. 

Mo'ise  is  the  eternal  complaint  of  genius  misunderstood  by 
the  masses : 

Et,  debout  devant  Dieu,  Moise  ayant  pris  place, 
Dans  le  nuage  obscur  lui  parlait  face  &  face. 
II  disait  au  Seigneur:  "Ne  finirai-je  pas? 
Je  vivrai  done  toujours  puissant  et  solitaire, 
Laissez-moi  m'endormir  du  sommeil  de  la  terre." ' 

La  Neige  is  a  tradition  of  the  love  of  Eginhard  and 
Emma,  daughter  of  Charlemagne.  La  Serieuse  is  a  mag- 
nificent picture  of  the  poetic  side  of  a  sailor's  life.  The  sub- 
ject of  Le  Cor  is  the  death  of  Roland  at  Roneevaux. 

The  scene  of  the  longest  of  these  poems,  Eloa,  ou  la  sceur 
des  anges,  takes  place  in  the  celestial  world,  in  the  midst  of 
the  stars  and  planets.  Eloa  is  an  angel,  born  of  a  tear  which 
Jesus  shed  at  the  death  of  Lazarus,  and  to  which  God  gave 
life.  In  converse  with  her  sisters,  she  has  heard  the  chief  of 
the  fallen  angels  spoken  of;  and  she  feels  that  if  she  saw  this 
great  culprit,  she  would  console  him,  and  lead  him  back  to 
righteousness.  Tormented  with  this  thought  she  wanders  in 
the  solitudes  of  the  sky.  One  day  she  meets  an  angel  of  bril- 
liant beauty  and  seductive  melancholy.  They  converse ;  then, 
seeing  that  she  cannot  save  Satan,  Eloa  perishes  with  him. 

In  his  last  volume  of  verse,  Les  Destinees,  de  Vigny  be- 
comes the  "poet  of  despair" — a  great  philosophic  poet  with 

1  And,  standing  before  God,  Moses 
Spoke  to  Him  face  to  face  in  the  dark  cloud. 
He  said  to  the  Lord:  "Shall  I  not  end? 
Shall  I  then  always  live  powerful  and  lonely? 
Let  me  sleep  the  sleep  of  the  earth." 

386 


THE    ROMANTICISTS 

a  marvelous  gift  for  expressing  the  infinite  sadness  of  life. 
Among  the  most  remarkable  of  the  poems  in  Les  Destinees 
are:  La  mort  du  loup,  La  Flute,  La  Maison  du  berger,  and 
especially  La  Colere  de  Samson. 

De  Vigny  's  novels  are :  Cinq-Mars,  Stello,  ou  les  consulta- 
tions du  docteur  noir  and  Servitude  et  grandeur  militaires. 
Cinq-Mars  is  the  best  historical  novel  of  French  literature ;  the 
story  runs  thus:  Louis  XIII  has  left  Richelieu  as  regent  in 
his  stead.  Richelieu  had  placed  near  the  king,  in  order  to 
amuse  his  leisure  and  to  watch  him,  the  young  and  brilliant 
Cinq-Mars,  who,  taking  his  position  seriously,  has  sought  to 
displace  Richelieu.  The  king  and  the  king's  brother,  the  Due 
d 'Orleans,  enter  into  the  conspiracy  with  Cinq-Mars,  who  be- 
lieves that  to  insure  its  success  it  is  imperative  to  accept  the 
proffered  aid  of  Spain.  Richelieu  is  warned  of  the  plan :  the 
king  disavows  his  favorite,  the  Due  d 'Orleans  disavows  his  ac- 
complice. Cinq-Mars  is  arrested  with  his  friend,  de  Thou,  and 
Richelieu  has  them  both  put  to  death.  Episodes  of  this  novel 
are  the  love  of  Cinq-Mars  for  Marie  de  Gonzague ;  the  case  of 
the  priest,  Urbain  Grandier,  who  is  put  to  death  for  having 
bewitched  the  nuns  of  Loudun;  and  the  incident  known  in 
history  as  the  Journee  des  Dupes  (November  11,  1630) -1 

In  Stello  the  author  seeks  to  prove  that  under  all  gov- 
ernments the  poet  is  ignored  and  deserted.  He  tells  the  story 
of  Gilbert,  dying  of  poverty  in  the  hospital,  under  an  abso- 
lute monarchy ;  of  Chatterton,  poisoning  himself  from  despair 
and  shame,  under  a  constitutional  monarchy;  and,  finally,  of 
Andre  Chenier,  conducted  to  the  scaffold  under  the  Republic. 
Each  of  these  recitals  is  a  masterpiece  of  style;  this  novel  is 
the  most  popular  work  by  de  Vigny,  and  expresses  the  domi- 
nant thought  of  his  life. 

Servitude  et  grandeur  militaires  is  a  collection  of  episodes 
in  which  the  author  exalts  military  honor. 

Attracted  by  the  theater,  de  Vigny  made  a  translation  of 
Othello;  he  wrote  La  Marechale  d'Ancre,  an  original  drama 
on  the  death  of  Henry  IV,  and  Chatterton — brilliant  and 

1  So  called  because  the  enemies  of  Richelieu,  including  Marie  deMe'dicis, 
mother  of  Louis  XIII  and  Anne  of  Austria,  his  wife,  were  completely  duped 
in  their  plans  for  the  minister's  downfall. 

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THE    HISTORY   OF    FRENCH   LITERATURE 

eloquent  plays  only  in  respect  to  their  literary  style.  He 
also  wrote  a  comedy,  Quitte  pour  la  peur.  His  dramatic 
masterpiece,  Chatterton,  was  received  with  great  favor.  He 
shows  us  Chatterton  as  the  great  unrecognized  poet,  strug- 
gling against  the  sordid  miseries  of  life.  The  youth  has 
taken  lodgings  in  the  house  of  a  rich,  coarse-mannered  mer- 
chant, who  has  married  a  melancholy  and  gracious  young 
woman,  Kitty  Bell.  Always  trembling  before  her  husband, 
but  full  of  sympathy  for  all  who  suffer,  Kitty  pities  this 
young  man  whom  all  the  world  neglects,  and  this  pity  grad- 
ually becomes  love.  The  other  characters  are  an  old  Quaker, 
a  friend  of  Chatterton ;  Lord  Talbot ;  and  the  Lord  Mayor  of 
London,  who,  in  a  fit  of  generosity,  comes  to  offer  the  poet  a 
situation  as  valet  de  chambre.  Chatterton,  in  despair,  poisons 
himself,  and  Kitty  dies. 

Alfred  de  Vigny  was  a  great  man,  a  great  poet,  a  great 
prose  writer.  During  the  last  twenty-five  years  of  his  life  he 
condemned  himself  to  complete  silence — shut  "in  his  ivory 
tower,"  enveloped  in  mystery  and  solitude.  The  publication 
of  his  posthumous  work,  Les  Destinees,  in  which  appears 
a  noble  and  great  poetic  talent,  revealed  in  part  the  secret 
sufferings,  the  bitterness,  the  disillusion  and  disappointment 
of  his  life.  He  died  in  1863. 

Casimir  Delavigne  (1793-1843),  one  of  the  most  brilliant 
of  the  early  nineteenth  century  Pleiade,  attained  the  sort  of 
popularity  that  is  perishable :  his  name,  rather  than  his  works, 
survives.  Influenced  by  the  romantic  school,  he  did  not  shake 
off  the  traditions  of  classicism;  and  so  he  fell  between  two 
stools.  He  caught  the  popular  fancy  with  the  political  ideas 
of  the  moment  and  with  his  skill  in  versification;  but  he  is 
no  longer  in  fashion.  After  the  Invasion  (by  the  Allied 
Armies),  he  wrote  a  number  of  songs,  collected  under  the  title 
of  Les  Messeniennes,1  in  which  he  bewailed  the  fate  of 
France,  her  king,  and  her  people ;  later  he  published  a  second 
collection,  with  the  same  title,  celebrating  her  victory:  these 
poems  were  enthusiastically  received  because  they  expressed 
the  national  sentiment.  The  July  Revolution  inspired  him  to 

1  It  was  Tyrtaeus,  the  elegiac  poet,  whose  songs  inspired  the  Spartans 
to  victory  over  the  Messenians. 

388 


THE   ROMANTICISTS 

compose  certain  patriotic  hymns:  La  Parisienne  (the  music 
by  Auber)  with  which  he  fondly  hoped  to  replace  the  Mar- 
seillaise; the  Varsovienne,  composed  for  the  Poles ;  La  Bruxel- 
laise,  and  others.  His  tragedies  and  comedies  were  staged 
with  a  success  in  great  measure  attributable  to  the  art  of  their 
interpreters1— Mademoiselle  Mars  and  the  great  Talma.  The 
tragedies  include  Louis  XI — Delavigne's  best  play,  which 
proved  to  be  one  of  the  most  suitable  mediums  for  the  acting 
of  the  late  Henry  Irving;  Les  Vepres  Siciliennes;  Le  Paria; 
Marino  Faliero;  La  fille  du  Cid;  Les  Enfants  d'Edouard. 
The  comedies  are:  Les  Comediens;  L'Ecole  des  Vieillards;  La 
Princesse  Aurelie.  Later  in  life,  Delavigne,  with  pecuniary 
regard  in  view,  collaborated  with  Scribe  in  Le  Diplomate,  La 
Somnambule,  and  other  plays. 

GAUTIER 

Theophile  Gautier  (1811-72),  born  at  Tarbes  in  the  south 
of  France,  began  his  career  as  a  painter — working  for  two 
years  in  the  studio  of  Rioult.  He  soon  laid  aside  the  brush 
for  the  pen ;  but  in  his  exercise  of  the  literary  art  he  sought 
and  obtained  effects  which  can  be  described  only  in  terms 
of  his  earlier  profession;  he  was  a  great  painter  in  words, 
a  wonderful  artist  in  his  employment  of  color.  If  his  work 
does  not  live  it  will  not  be  for  lack  of  literary  form  and 
style,  but  because  of  its  deficiency  in  ideas  and  soul.  As  a 
journalist  his  contributions  were  of  extraordinary  worth;  in 
criticism  and  in  descriptive  writing  for  the  press  he  revealed 
exceptional  gifts  of  insight  and  expression.  Gautier  was  the 
doughty  champion  who  led  the  Romantic  hosts  in  their  battles 
with  the  defenders  of  classicism;  it  was  Le  grand  Theo,  of 
heroic  bulk  with  flowing  locks,  red  waistcoat,  and  pale-green 
trousers,  who  dominated  the  claque  (men  hired  to  clap)  that 
rallied  around  Hugo  at  the  memorable  performance  of 
Hernani,  on  the  23d  of  February,  1830,  and  this  red 
waistcoat  obtained  for  him  immediately  a  proverbial  reputa- 
tion. In  reference  to  it  Gautier  wrote :  ' '  Yes,  our  poetry,  our 
books,  our  essays  will  be  forgotten,  but  our  red  waistcoats  will 
endure.  This  spark  will  be  seen  long  after  everything  which 
concerned  us  will  have  become  extinguished  in  darkness  and 

389 


THE    HISTORY   OF   FRENCH   LITERATURE 

will  distinguish  us  from  our  contemporaries  whose  works  were 
not  better  than  ours,  but  who  wore  somber  waistcoats." 
Gautier,  in  turn,  himself  became  the  head  of  a  new  school, 
and  profoundly  influenced  the  younger  men  who  came  after 
him.  In  his  poetry  he  expressed  the  transition  from  the  per- 
sonal and  subjective  attitude  of  the  Romantic  school  to  the 
impersonal  and  objective  verse  of  the  Parnassiens,  whose 
apostle  he  was,  and  for  whom  his  ~fimaux  et  Camees  summed 
up  his  conception  of  poetry — structure  and  color,  according  to 
this  creed,  being  more  important  than  sentiment  and  ideas. 
His  earliest  poems  include  the  Comedie  de  la  mort  and  Al~ 
bertus,  in  both  of  which  the  fantastic  is  pushed  to  an  extreme. 
In  the  preface  to  his  very  improper  novel,  Mademoiselle  de 
Maupin,  Gautier  enunciates  principles  antagonistic  to  ac- 
cepted canons  of  morality  and  upholds  the  fundamental  plea 
of  naturalism,  ''Art  for  Art's  sake."  He  defines  himself  as 
"  un  homme  pour  qui  le  monde  exterieur  existe. "  Gautier 's 
Conies  et  Nouvelles  resemble  in  style  and  sentiment  the 
Conies  fantastiques  of  Hoffman,1  who,  after  Goethe,  was  the 
German  poet  best  known  to  French  readers.  The  romantic 
novel  of  adventure,  Le  Capitaine  Fracasse  (the  source  of 
which  is  Searron's  Roman  Comique)  is  a  vivid  and  brilliant 
picture  of  the  life  of  a  company  of  strolling  players  in  the 
days  of  Louis  XIII.  Captain  Fracasse  is  the  name  assumed 
by  the  hero  of  the  tale — de  Sigognac,  and  it  has  become  syn- 
onymous with  boaster  and  braggart.  In  Fortunio,  Gautier  has 
described  luxury  in  its  extreme  manifestations.  Readers  who 
have  little  French  can  perhaps  best  get  a  glimpse  of  this 
author's  opulent  style  and  sensuous  imagery  through  the 
medium  of  Lafcadio  Hearn's  sympathetic  translations  of  cer- 
tain short  stories — a  genre  of  which  Gautier  was  a  master. 
His  studies  entitled  Les  Grotesques  are  singular  examples  of 
his  skill.  Besides  his  literary  and  art  criticisms  for  La  Presse 
and  Le  Figaro,  a  remarkable  product  of  his  journalistic  ac- 
tivity, should  be  mentioned  his  highly  original  articles  descrip- 
tive of  his  travels  throughout  Europe — in  Spain,  England, 

1  Hoffman's  fantastic  tales  are  one  of  the  few  literary  productions  in 
which  the  most  bizarre  imagination  and  the  widest  digressions  from  the 
theme  do  not  impair  the  merit  of  the  work. 

390 


THE    ROMANTICISTS 

Belgium,  Holland,  Italy,  Russia.  His  works  comprise  about 
three  hundred  volumes.  Gautier  had  merits  and  defects  that 
have  given  rise  to  no  little  confusion  of  critical  opinion;  but 
his  mastery  of  style  and  form,  and  his  ability  to  make  the 
reader  share  in  his  power  of  visualization  seem  to  establish  his 
fame  as  something  more  than  ephemeral,  and  ought  to  have 
secured  for  him,  it  would  seem,  a  seat  in  the  Academy. 


CHAPTER   XXVI 

THE   HUMORISTS   AND   THE   SATIRISTS 

A  GROUP  of  writers  who  may  be  classed  as  the  humorists 
were  Charles  Nodier,  Xavier  de  Maistre,  Rudolph  Toepffer, 
and  Alphonse  Karr. 

Charles  NodiS-  (1783-1844)  had  manifold  talents.  He 
was  a  novelist,  poet,  historian,  philologist,  entomologist, 
scholar,  and  journalist;  and  he  diffused  his  gifts  with  the 
greatest  vivacity  and  intelligence.  Louis  XVIII  appointed 
him  librarian  of  the  Bibliotheque  de  1 'Arsenal;  and,  at  the 
end  of  the  year  1823,  Nodier  became  for  a  time  the  center  of 
the  literary  movement  which  had  taken  the  name  of  Roman- 
ticism, his  salon  being  the  rendezvous  of  the  Cenacle.  Alfred 
de  Musset  loved  to  recall  those  days  to  Nodier : 

Lorsque  rassembles  sous  ton  aile  paternelle, 
Echappes  de  nos  pensions 

Nous  dansions, 
Gais  comme  1'oiseau  sur  la  branche, 

Le  dimanche, 
Nous  rendions  parfois  matinal 

L'Arsenal!1 

Nodier  encouraged  all  these  young  and  enthusiastic 
writers  by  his  example.  He  had  written  so  much  that  he 
himself  did  not  know  the  names  of  all  his  works.  What  he 
published  was  sufficient  to  make  a  library.  Nodier  was  a  bril- 
liant stylist  and  a  most  successful  writer  of  fantastic  short 
stories:  Trilby,  oil  le  lutin  d'Argail,  in  which  a  little  Scotch 
imp  is  in  love  with  Jeanne,  the  farmer's  wife;  Histoire  d'un 

1  Nodier's  salon  was  called  the  Arsenal,  name  of  the   Bibliotheque  de 
I' Arsenal,  of  which  he  was  the  librarian. 

392 


THE   HUMORISTS   AND   THE    SATIRISTS 

roi  de  Boheme  et  de  sept  chateaux,  a  quaint  fantasy  in  the 
manner  of  Sterne ;  Mademoiselle  de  Marsau;  Les  quatre  talis- 
mans; La  Neuvaine  de  la  Chandeleur;  Le  Chien  de  Brisquet; 
Smarra,  ou  les  demons  de  la  nuit.  Among  his  other  works 
are:  Le  Dernier  banquet  des  Girondins;  Etudes  sur  la  Revo- 
lution frangaise;  Jean  Sbogar,  the  story  of  a  robber  chieftain 
— copied  after  Schiller's  Karl  Moor.  Nodier  also  wrote  a 
Dictionnaire  des  onomatopees  de  la  langue  frangaise,  Melanges 
tires  d'une  petite  bibliotkeque,  and  a  Dictionnaire  universel 
de  la  langue  fran$aise. 

Vapereau  says:  "Allowing  for  the  publications  inspired 
by  circumstances,  and  improvised  under  the  influence  of  the 
impressions  or  even  of  the  interest  of  the  moment,  there  re- 
mains in  the  person  of  Charles  Nodier  one  of  the  most  charm- 
ing and  delicate  of  our  story  writers.  He  was  a  true  chiseler 
of  the  language,  and  his  most  whimsical  works  are  those  which 
are  the  most  carefully  worked  out.  Open  to  the  most  diverse 
influences,  and  suited  to  transmit  them  all,  he  represents  very 
well  the  convulsive  epoch  into  which  he  was  thrown,  and  is 
one  of  the  masters  of  his  generation  in  literature.  He  has 
the  curious,  mobile,  capricious,  humoristic  spirit;  he  has  the 
love  of  paradox,  and  yet  the  feeling  for  regularity ;  ardor  yet 
patience;  the  requisite  reverence  for  the  traditions  of  the 
language  and  literature.  An  observer  of  the  beginnings  of 
French  Romanticism,  he  excites  and  encourages  it,  but  does 
not  enter  its  ranks;  he  springs  directly  from  those  masters, 
ancient  or  modern,  national  or  foreign,  who  have  united  form 
with  the  caprices  of  the  imagination." 

But  Nodier  lacked  conception,  seriousness,  and  force.  For 
him  form  was  all;  the  graces  of  the  language  were  his  pas- 
sion. Very  well  versed  in  the  French  language,  he  was  an 
excellent  writer,  and  restored  to  current  usage  a  number  of 
words  fallen  into  desuetude  at  the  end  of  the  eighteenth 
century.  It  is  said  that  in  order  to  improve  his  handwriting 
he  copied  thrice  the  Gargantua  and  Pantagruel  of  Rabelais, 
thus  acquiring  a  command  of  sixteenth  century  words  and 
phrases  which  he  put  into  circulation,  greatly  to  the  enrich- 
ment of  the  language. 

Count  Xavier  de  Maistre  was  born  in  1763  at  Chambery, 
Savoy,  but  lived  most  of  his  life  in  Russia.  He  wrote  several 

393 


THE    HISTORY   OF    FRENCH   LITERATURE 

little  works  distinguished  by  naivete,  grace,  and  simplicity. 
The  Voyage  autour  de  ma  ckambre  has  immortalized  the  name 
of  its  author.  This  literary  trifle,  in  the  manner  of  Sterne, 
abounds  in  delightful  observations,  expressed  in  a  delicate, 
lucid  style.  Since  Hamilton  *  no  foreigner  had  written  French 
with  equal  grace  and  lightness.  He  published  also:  L' Expe- 
dition nocturne;  Le  Lepreux  de  la  cite  d'Aoste,  an  admirable 
moral  analysis ;  Les  Prisonniers  du  Caucase,  in  which  are  de- 
scribed the  adventures  of  an  officer  who  succeeds,  by  dint  of 
bravery  and  skill,  in  escaping  from  the  hands  of  the  Tche- 
tchenques;  Prascovie,  ou  la  jeune  Siberienne,  the  story  of  a 
young  Siberian  girl  who  came  to  St.  Petersburg,  alone  and 
on  foot  from  Tobolsk,  to  ask  for  her  father's  pardon  from  the 
Emperor  Paul.  De  Maistre's  complete  works  fill  but  one  large 
volume. 

Rudolph  Toepffer,  born  in  Geneva,  in  1799,  was  first  intro- 
duced to  the  French  in  a  letter  written  by  Xavier  de  Maistre, 
commending  him  as  a  writer  of  his  own  school.  Sainte-Beuve 
pronounced  Toepffer 's  tale,  Le  Presbytere,  a  masterpiece; 
this  work  along  with  the  Bibliotheque  de  mon  oncle,  won  him 
recognition.  La  Traversce,  L'Heritage,  Eose  et  Gertrude — 
collected  under  the  title  of  Nouvelles  genevoises — are  all 
charming  reveries  in  which  mirth  and  melancholy,  didacticism 
and  ironical  humor,  are  happily  mingled.  His  Menus  propos 
d'un  peintre  genevois  are  humorous  art  talks.  Toepffer  was 
an  artist  as  well  as  a  writer  and  a  master  at  an  excellent 
school;  and  his  illustrations  for  the  Voyages  en  zigzag  (de- 
scriptive of  summer  journeys  with  his  pupils)  enhance  the 
pleasing  quality  of  these  narratives.  His  album  of  caricatures 
with  fantastic  text  attracted  the  attention  of  Goethe. 

Alphonse  Karr  (born  1801),  the  humorist  of  the  romantic 
school,  gained  reputation  as  a  satirist  of  society;  in  his  de- 
clining years  he  turned  to  the  culture  of  flowers  at  Nice — de- 
riving a  respectable  income  from  the  sale  of  artistic  bouquets. 
Karr's  first  literary  success  was  inspired  by  his  emotions  on 
being  jilted  by  his  sweetheart,  who  had  promised  to  wait  un- 

1  The  French  author,  Count  Anthony  Hamilton,  born  in  Ireland,  son  of 
Sir  George  Hamilton,  and  brother-in-law  of  the  Comte  de  Gramont,  whose 
Memoires  he  wrote. 

394 


THE   HUMORISTS   AND    THE   SATIRISTS 

til  he  had  made  his  fortune:  his  Sous  les  tilleuls — a  poem 
which  he  afterwards  turned  into  prose — was  his  ironic  answer 
to  her  inconstancy.  In  other  stories,  too,  he  has  drawn  upon 
his  own  life  for  "copy."  The  Chemin  le  plus  court,  which 
proved  very  successful,  sets  forth  the  miseries  of  unhappy 
marriage.  His  epistolary  tale,  Voyage  autour  de  mon  jardin, 
is  an  engagingly  humorous  account  of  flowers  and  insects,  in- 
terleaved with  stories  grave  and  gay.  Genevieve  is  his  most 
poetic  work,  and  Fort  en  theme,  the  one  by  which  he  is  perhaps 
best  known.  The  scenes  of  nearly  all  his  tales  are  on  the  sea- 
shore of  Normandy.  For  several  years  he  followed  his  pet 
pursuit  of  social  satirist  in  a  very  bright  and  readable 
monthly  journal,  Les  Guepes  (The  Wasps),  of  which  he  was 
editor  and  publisher.  It  enjoyed  a  large  circulation,  and  made 
him  many  enemies. 

•4      Beranger    and    Barbier,    poets,    and    Courier,    political 
pamphleteer,  were  the  most  daring  satirists  of  the  age. 

Beranger,  the  supreme  chansonnier  of  France,  though  re- 
garded as  a  classicist,  found  admirers  among  the  adherents 
of  the  Romantic  school.  He  appealed  not  only  to  the  popular 
ear,  but  to  poets  as  well.  Heine  adored  him;  Goethe  knew 
his  songs  by  heart.  "  Wise  and  prudent  like  Franklin," 
remarks  one  critic,  "  amiable  epicurean  like  Horace  and  La 
Fontaine,  Beranger  lifted  up  the  song  to  the  dignity  of  the 
ode."  For  fifteen  years  he  tried  his  hand  at  all  kinds  of 
poetry,  from  the  idyl  to  the  epic,  before  he  discovered  that 
the  chanson  was  his  natural  medium  of  expression.  As  he 
himself  says  in  his  beautiful  poem,  La  Vocation: 

Jete  sur  cette  boule 
Laid,  chdtif  et  souffrant: 
Etouffe  dans  la  foule 
Faute  d'etre  assez  grand; 
Une  plainte  touchante 
De  ma  bouche  sortit. 
Le  bon  Dieu  me  dit :  "  Chante, 
Chante,  pauvre  petit! 

His  songs  produced  a  more  powerful  effect  than  any 
satirist  in  prose  may  hope  to  attain;  for  prose  satire  is  read 
by  the  few,  whereas  song  ' '  is  made  for  the  masses,  and,  with 

395 


THE    HISTORY   OF   FRENCH   LITERATURE 

the  aid  of  music  and  the  refrain,  it  runs,  it  flies,  it  engraves 
itself  on  the  memories  of  all."  In  his  refrains,  Beranger 
usually  expresses  the  whole  intent  of  his  songs.  They  reflect 
the  life  of  the  people : 

Mes  chansons  c'est  moi. 

Le  peuple  c'est  ma  muse.1 

Pierre  Jean  de  Beranger,  the  son  of  an  impoverished  noble- 
man, was  born  in  Paris  in  1780  at  the  house  of  his  grand- 
father, a  poor  tailor.  In  his  youth  he  knew  great  misery,  and 
was  educated  chiefly  by  his  own  efforts.  At  last,  in  dire 
distress,  he  sent  a  collection  of  poems  to  Lucien  Bonaparte, 
himself  a  poet  and  a  patron  of  the  arts.  Bonaparte  was  de- 
lighted with  the  poems,  and  yielded  to  Beranger  his  own 
income  of  one  thousand  francs  which  he  received  as  a  mem- 
ber of  the  French  Academy.  Later,  Beranger  also  obtained  a 
small  stipend  as  secretary  of  the  University  of  Paris,  and  he 
was  thus  enabled  to  pursue  his  vocation  as  poet.  Le  Roi 
d'Yvetot,  "  who  took  pleasure  for  his  code,"  established  his 
reputation,  and  thereafter  his  chansons  became  immensely 
popular.-N:.His  satirical  songs  of  a  political  nature  were  written 
chiefly  during  the  Restoration,  after  the  fall  of  Napoleon. 
The  songs  of  a  social  character  composed  prior  to  that  period 
embrace  Man  Habit  (My  Coat)  ;  Ma  Vocation;  Les  Hiron- 
delles  (The  Swallows),  a  favorite  with  the  French  soldiers  in 
Algiers ;  Le  Grenier  ( The  Garret) ;  Le  Dieu  des  bonnes  gens; 
Le  vieux  sergent;  La  Grand-Mere.  Some  of  his  love  songs  are 
lewd  and  vulgar.  His  satirical  songs  include :  Les  En f ants  de 
la  France;  La  Cocarde  blanche  (The  White  Cockade),  di- 
rected against  the  royalist  banquet  celebrating  the  anniversary 
of  the  entry  of  the  allied  forces  into  Paris;  Nabuchodonosor, 
a  formidable  mockery  of  Louis  XVIII;  Le  Marquis  de  Cara- 
bas,  and  La  Sainte-Alliance  barbaresque. 

Beranger  was  the  most  inspired  of  the  panegyrists  of 
Napoleon  I;  he  glorified  the  Petit  Caporal  in  many  songs, 
and  thus  created  a  veritable  Napoleon  Cult.  The  titles  of 

1  My  songs  are  myself. 
The  people,  that's  my  muse. 

396 


THE    HUMORISTS    AND    THE    SATIRISTS 

some  of  these  famous  chansons  are :  Les  souvenirs  du  peuple; 
Le  cinq  mai;  11  n'est  pas  mort;  Le  vieux  drapeau  (The  oldi 
flag) ;  Les  deux  grenadiers.  Perhaps  the  most  touching  of 
them  all  is  the  one  on  the  return  of  the  exiled  Napoleon  to 
France  : 

France  adoree! 

Douce  contree! 
Puissent'tes  fils  te  revoir  ainsi  tous! 

Enfin  j 'arrive, 

Et  sur  la  rive 
Je  rends  au  ciel,  je  rends  grace  a  genoux. 

Beranger  composed  a  bewildering  variety  of  chansons.1 
We  mention  a  few  more  titles:  Roger  Bontemps;  Jeanne  la 
Rousse  (Red-haired  Joan) ;  Les  Gueux  (The  Beggars) ;  Les 
Adieux  de  Marie  Stuart;  Le  Juif -Errant  (The  Wandering 
Jew)  ;  and  finally  La  Sainte- Alliance,  which  begins  with  the 
beautiful  lines: 

J'ai  vu  la  Paix  descendre  sur  la  terre, 

Semant  de  Tor,  des  fleurs  et  des  epis. 
L'air  etait  calme,  et  du  dieu  de  la  guerre 

Elle  6touffait  les  foudres  assoupis. 
Ah!  disait-elle,  e"gaux  par  la  vaillance, 

Francais,  Anglais,  Beige,  Russe  ou  Germain, 
Peuples,  formez  une  sainte  alliance, 

Et  donnez-vous  la  main. 

During  the  Restoration,  Beranger  attacked  the  policy  of 
the  Bourbons,  and  worked  assiduously  for  their  downfall. 
With  this  purpose  he  chose  the  greatest  of  all  weapons,  satire ; 
for  there  are  many  who 

Safe  from  the  bar,  the  pulpit,  and  the  throne, 
Are  touched  and  shamed  by  ridicule  alone. 

For  these  attacks  he  was  twice  imprisoned  and  fined,  once 

1  At  his  death,  in  1857,  he  left,  in  addition  to  his  biography,  some  ninety 
unpublished  songs. 

397 


THE    HISTORY    OF    FRENCH   LITERATURE 

on  account  of  the  song,  L'Enrhume,  in  which  two  dotted  lines 
were  sufficient  to  convict  him  of  lese-majeste : 

Mais  la  Charte  encor  nous  defend ; 
Du  roi  c'est  Timmortel  enfant. 
II  1'aime,  ou  le  presume. 

Amis,  c'est  la, 
Oui,  c'est  cela, 
C'est  cela  qui  m'enrhume. 

His  last  sentence  of  imprisonment  was  for  nine  months, 
with  the  additional  penalty  of  ten  thousand  francs'  fine;  but 
this  only  seemed  to  heighten  his  popularity.  His  punishment 
was  transformed  into  a  veritable  triumph:  the  great  men 
of  the  day  came  to  pay  him  homage  in  his  prison;  Victor 
Hugo,  Dumas,  de  Vigny,  and  his  many  more  obscure  admirers 
sent  him  delicacies;  the  young  people  of  France  opened  a 
subscription  which  in  a  few  days  was  sufficient  to  pay  the 
fine.  His  imprisonment,  far  from  intimidating  him,  inspired 
him  to  launch  his  bitterest  satire  against  the  enemy  from 
within  his  prison  walls,  and  the  people  applauded  his  courage. 

Beranger  several  times  refused  the  offer  of  membership 
in  the  French  Academy.  He  seemed  to  prefer  the  atmosphere 
of  the  Caveau,  a  Parisian  literary  and  convivial  club  of  which 
Desaugiers  was  the  president.1  The  majority  of  French  critics 
do  not  acknowledge  Beranger  as  a  poet  of  the  first  rank;  the 
English  critic,  Saintsbury,  is  disposed  to  ridicule  the  critical 
French  attitude  of  grudging  appreciation  of  Beranger.  He 
11  was  not  in  the  least  a  literary  poet,"  says  Professor  Saints- 
bury.  ' '  But  there  is  room  in  literature  for  other  than  merely 
literary  poets,  and  among  these  Beranger  will  always  hold  a 
very  high  place."  His  songs  thrilled  the  multitude,  and  for 
many  years  after  his  death,  in  1857,  he  was  the  idol  of  the 
people,  whose  emotions  he  so  characteristically  expressed. 

Paul-Louis  Courier  de  Mere  (1722-1825),  the  wittiest  and 

1  This  club,  founded  in  1729  by  Piron,  the  elder  Cre'billon,  Colle",  and 
others,  was  dissolved  in  1739  and  reorganized  some  twenty  years  later  by 
Pelletier,  the  younger  Cre'billon,  Marmontel,  and  their  companions. 

398 


THE   HUMORISTS   AND    THE    SATIRISTS 

most  gifted  prose  writer  and  a  defender  of  liberal  ideas, 
reached  middle  age  before  he  discovered  that  he  had  a  genius 
for  political  satire.  When  this  was  fully  established  by  his 
Petition  aux  deux  Chambres,  descriptive  of  the  crimes  of  the 
' '  White  Terror, " 1  he  published  pamphlet  after  pamphlet 
against  the  government  of  the  Restoration — pouring  into  the 
wounds  made  by  Beranger  the  salt  of  his  own  biting  prose. 
His  style,  of  marvelous  simplicity  and  directness,  and  glit- 
tering with  epigrams,  was  that  of  the  Satire  Menippee;  he 
had  the  wit  of  Rabelais,  the  irony  of  Junius.  Courier  had 
served  in  the  army  under  Napoleon,  but  during  the  Restora- 
tion he  resigned  his  commission  to  engage  in  farming  on  his 
little  estate  at  Veretz  in  Touraine.  It  was  under  the  name  of 
Paul-Louis,  vigneron  (wine  grower)  that  he  issued  his  most 
sensational  pamphlet,  the  Simple  Discours,  in  criticism  of  the 
national  project  to  present  the  Chateau  de  Chambord  to  the 
Due  de  Bordeaux.  The  effect  of  Courier 's  telling  style  is  height- 
ened by  the  form  in  which  this  pamphlet  is  cast — the  author 
representing  himself  ingenuously  as  a  peasant  arguing  political 
questions  with  his  fellows.  It  cost  Courier  two  months  in  jail 
at  Sainte-Pelagie,  where  he  spent  some  happy  days  in  company 
with  Beranger,  composing  another  satire  concerning  the  ex- 
penses of  his  trial.  His  other  productions  of  this  kind  in- 
clude the  famous  Pamphlet  des  pamphlets  and  his  Petition 
a  la  Chambre  des  Deputes  pour  les  villageois  qu'on  empeche  de 
danser.  His  immensely  clever  and  popular  letters  embrace 
the  Lettre  d  M.  Eenouard,  on  the  subject  of  a  mutilated  manu- 
script; the  Conversation  chez  la  duchesse  d' Albany;  and  the 
Aventure  en  Caldbre,  comprised  in  a  letter  to  Madame 
Pigalle.  Under  the  last  of  these  titles  is  related  the  thrilling 
adventures  of  himself  and  a  companion  housed  overnight  with 
some  peasants  of  a  village  in  the  kingdom  of  Naples :  Courier 
and  his  comrade  are  overcome  with  terror  when  their  host,  in 
the  middle  of  the  night,  ascends  a  ladder  to  their  room,  and, 
with  a  large  knife  in  his  hand,  stealthily  approaches  their  bed 
— in  order  to  cut  down  a  ham  that  happens  to  be  hanging 
above  them. 

1  The  Terreur  blanche  was  a  term  applied  to  the  period  of  excesses  com- 
mitted by  the  Royalists  during  the  first  years  of  the  Restoration. 

399 


THE   HISTORY    OF   FRENCH   LITERATURE 

It  was  the  opinion  of  Sainte-Beuve  that  Courier  would 
endure  as  a  rare  and  unique  example  in  French  literature. 

Auguste  Barbier  (1805-82),  a  young  poet  of  little  repu- 
tation, "awoke  to  find  himself  famous"  with  the  publication 
of  his  satires  entitled  lambes.1  These  appeared  in  1831,  a 
year  after  the  July  Revolution.  Brilliant  in  rhetoric  and 
pungent  with  a  satire  worthy  of  Juvenal,  the  poems  made  a 
tremendous  sensation;  nothing  comparable  to  them  had  been 
produced  in  France.  The  lambes  were  directed  against  Louis- 
Philippe,  and  exposed  the  corruption  and  weakness  of  the 
government.  In  all,  there  are  nineteen  of  these  poems.  La 
Curee  satirizes  the  office-seeking  courtiers  who  waxed  rich 
under  the  new  government  without  having  taken  part  in  the 
war.  La  Curee  is  a  striking  picture  of  the  corruption  of 
Paris,  Melpomene  an  eloquent  censure  of  the  debaucheries  that 
dishonored  the  theater  at  this  time.  In  L'Idole,  Barbier  bit- 
terly attacks  Napoleon  I  upon  the  occasion  of  the  erection  of 
his  statue  on  the  Colonne  Vendome.  He  calls  him  a  scourge 
of  God — a  figure  in  striking  contrast  to  the  Napoleon  defined 
by  most  of  the  celebrated  writers  of  the  beginning  of  the  cen- 
tury. Barbier 's  hatred  of  the  emperor  finds  intense  expres- 
sion in  these  lines  of  L'Idole: 

Eh  bien!  Dans  tous  ces  jours  d'abaissement,  de  peine, 
Pour  tous  ces  outrages  sans  nom, 
Je  n'ai  jamais  charge  qu'  un  6tre  de  ma  haine.  .  .  . 
Sois  maudit,  6  Napoleon! 

Some  of  his  other  poems,  notably  II  Pianto,  in  which  he 
bewails  the  political  misfortunes  of  Italy,  and  Lazare,  which 
depicts  the  misery  of  the  English  people,  contain  beautiful 
lines;  but  Barbier  did  not  again  attain  the  height  of  his 
lambes,  of  which  Nettement  says :  "  Never  had  French  poetry 
shown  that  cynical  boldness  of  representation  and  that  brutal 
energy  of  expression  which  live  in  this  democratic  maledic- 
tion." 

1  Iambics,  a  metrical  form  first  employed  in  Greece  as  the  verse  most 
appropriate  to  satire. 


CHAPTER   XXVII 

THE   MODERN   NOVEL 

THE  astonishing  growth  of  the  novel  in  the  nineteenth  cen- 
tury proceeded  in  a  great  measure  from  the  desire  of  the 
French  people,  weary  of  political  strife,  for  some  form  of  lit- 
erary relaxation.  The  response  to  that  desire  found  its  first 
expression  in  the  portrayal  of  the  ideal;  this,  in  turn,  led  to 
the  study  of  morals  and  manners  and  an  analysis  of  the  human 
heart:  hence  the  novels  of  realism,  of  naturalism,  and  of 
psychology.  The  surpassing  exponent  of  idealistic  fiction  was 
a  woman — George  Sand.  She  possessed  a  rich  inventive  fac- 
ulty and  keen  powers  of  observation,  and  while  her  gift  of 
fancy  conducted  her  into  the  realm  of  the  ideal,  she  did  not 
fall  into  the  exaggerations  of  the  romantic  school.  A  writer 
of  extraordinary  powers,  she  had  an  innate  love  for  nature 
and  humanity ;  within  her  peculiar  province  she  was  a  master 
of  French  prose. 

Aurore  Dupin  (George  Sand)  was  born  at  Paris  in  1804. 
She  was  the  great-granddaughter  of  Maurice  de  Saxe.1  On  the 
death  of  her  father,  the  young  Aurore,  from  the  age  of  four 
years,  was  brought  up  in  the  country,  at  the  chateau  of  No- 
hant,  in  Berri,  by  her  grandmother,  Madame  Dupin  de  Fran- 
cueil.  Free  from  all  constraint,  and  subject  to  no  surveillance, 
she  divided  her  time  between  long  trips  in  the  fields  and 
the  books  which  she  chose  for  herself.  When  she  was  thirteen 
years  old,  Madame  Dupin  de  Francueil,  frightened  at  the  ig- 

1  Maurice  de  Saxe,  son  of  Augustus  II  and  the  Countess  Konigsmarken, 
left  his  country  on  account  of  a  political  quarrel;  he  served  France  and 
became  Marshal  de  Saxe.  George  Sand's  father,  Maurice  Dupin, 
served  with  distinction  under  the  Republic  and  the  Empire;  her  mother 
was  a  woman  inferior  to  him  in  position  and  intellect,  but  whom  he  married, 
in  spite  of  the  lively  opposition  of  his  family. 

27  401 


THE   HISTORY   OF   FRENCH   LITERATUK 

norance  and  rustic  manners  of  her  granddaughter,  put  her  in 
a  convent  in  Paris,  where  she  spent  three  years.  Aurore  en- 
rolled herself  in  the  company  of  certain  boarders  who  were 
called  "the  devils" — students  who  defied  the  authority  of 
the  Sisters,  and  refused  to  work.  At  the  end  of  a  year,  how- 
ever, she  became  tired  of  "deviltry,"  and  began  to  like  the 
pious  exercises,  and  even  entertained  the  idea  of  becoming  a 
nun ;  but  she  left  the  convent  after  three  years,  and  returned 
to  the  Chateau  of  Nohant,  where  she  resumed  the  wayward 
habits  of  her  childhood.  Under  her  tutor's  direction  she 
began  to  read  the  principal  works  of  Mably,  Locke,  Bacon, 
Montesquieu,  J.  J.  Rousseau,  Aristotle,  Leibnitz,  Pascal, 
Montaigne;  and  to  devour,  without  method,  the  poems  of 
Pope,  Milton,  Dante,  Shakespeare,  Byron.  Her  literary  talent 
proceeds  from  these  authors ;  personal  inspiration  has  added  to 
it  a  stamp  of  originality.  As  her  mind  expanded,  the  freedom 
of  her  tastes  led  her  into  eccentric  ways;  she  began  to  dress 
like  a  boy,  with  cloth  trousers  and  leather  gaiters,  in  order 
to  be  able  to  ride  with  greater  comfort.  Her  studies  soon 
took  a  turn  as  masculine  as  her  pleasures;  a  young  student 
of  medicine  supplied  her  with  human  arms,  heads  and  legs, 
and  for  a  long  time  she  kept  a  skeleton  in  her  room.  Her  ec- 
centric charms,  her  mysterious  studies,  her  merry,  free,  and 
easy  relations  with  young  people,  all  this  scandalized  the  in- 
habitants of  La  Chatre,  and  bred  the  storm  of  calumnies 
which  was  to  break  upon  her  later  in  life.  When  her  grand- 
mother died,  Mademoiselle  Dupin  went  to  live  with  her  moth- 
er in  Paris,  where  she  suffered  keenly  from  the  social  and  in- 
tellectual inferiority  of  her  environment.  She  was  soon  mar- 
ried to  the  baron  Casimir  Dudevant;  but  this  union  was  not 
happy,  and  she  separated  from  him.  Madame  Dudevant,  with 
her  husband's  consent,  lived  sometimes  in  Paris  with  her 
daughter,  and  sometimes  at  Nohant  with  her  son;  but  her 
means  were  very  limited,  and  she  had  recourse  to  several  ex- 
pedients to  increase  her  income.  In  order  to  economize,  she 
once  more  donned  the  male  costume,1  in  which  she  could 

1  This  so-called  "male  costume"  is  said  to  have  consisted  in  a  long  coat 
such  as  any  woman  might  wear,  hair  cut  short  and  a  round  felt  hat  which 
gave  her,  at  a  distance,  the  appearance  of  a  man. 

402 


THE    MODERN   NOVEL 

mingle  with  the  crowds  who  witnessed  the  presentation 
of  the  first  Romantic  dramas,  and  in  which  she  could 
frequent  the  streets  of  the  Latin  quarter,  at  night, 
together  with  its  happy  inhabitants.  At  this  time 
she  was  twenty-eight  years  old.  At  first  she  made  trans- 
lations; then  she  began  to  do  portraits  in  crayon  and  in 
water  color.  Finally,  she  tried  literature,  but  met  with  little 
encouragement:  an  old  novelist,  to  whom  she  had  been  re- 
ferred, told  her  dryly  that  a  woman  should  not  write.  Balzac, 
to  whom  she  was  introduced,  paid  no  great  attention  to  her 
projects.  Latouche  gave  her  a  place  on  the  editorial  staff  of 
Le  Figaro,  with  indifferent  results.  It  was  then  that  she  met, 
in  the  offices  of  the  newspaper,  a  young  writer,  Jules  Sandeau, 
who  collaborated  with  her  in  a  romance,  Rose  et  Blanche, 
under  the  pseudonym  of  ' '  Jules  Sand. ' '  This  was  a  success, 
and  an  editor  asked  "  Jules  Sand  "  for  a  new  novel.  Madame 
Dudevant  submitted  the  manuscript  of  a  novel  which  was  hers 
alone;  but  the  publisher  clung  to  the  pseudonym  in  order  to 
assure  the  success  of  the  book.  Latouche  arranged  the  diffi- 
culty by  bestowing  on  the  authoress  the  name  of  Sand,  with 
the  privilege  of  adding  to  it  whatever  name  should  please  her ; 
and  so  the  novel,  Indiana,  was  published  under  the  name  of 
George  Sand.  It  created  a  sensation  even  amid  the  victories 
of  Romanticism ;  a  new  talent  had  appeared  stamped  with  an 
individual  style  and  infused  with  idealism  and  feeling.  In 
Indiana  she  uttered  a  passionate  protest  against  marriage  as  it 
is  contracted  in  a  badly  organized  society.  The  story  was  a 
popular  success;  and  the  same  year  saw  the  appearance  of 
Valentine,  which  contains  touching  situations  and  a  delicate 
analysis  of  character,  and  likewise  attacks  the  institution  of 
marriage.  Lelia,  which  is  less  a  novel  than  a  kind  of  philo- 
sophic poem,  was  written  in  an  hour  of  discouragement.  After 
her  break  with  de  Musset  in  Italy,  George  Sand  published  her 
impressions  of  the  journey  in  the  Lettres  d'un  voyageur, 
which  made  a  great  stir.  Jacques,  Andre,  Le  Secretaire  in- 
time,  Leone  Leoni,  Mauprat,  Lavinia,  etc.,  are  novels  that  be- 
long to  her  initial  period  of  productiveness — that  of  passion 
in  its  first  outbreak.  Lelia  dominates  all  her  works  of  this 
period,  which  ends  with  the  Lettres  d'un  voyageur. 

The  second  phase  of  George  Sand 's  genius  and  ideas  is  ex- 

403 


THE    HISTORY   OP   FRENCH   LITERATURE 

pressed  in  her  activities  during  the  succeeding  eight  years. 
It  is  the  period  in  which  she  entered  into  relations  with  emi- 
nent men  whose  social  and  religious  ideas  she  could  adorn  by 
the  marvelous  power  of  her  imagination  and  the  eloquence 
of  her  style .  She,  in  her  turn,  became  a  philosopher  and 
socialist.  Under  the  influence  of  the  Abbe  de  Lamennais,  who 
had  turned  democrat,  she  wrote  Le  Compagnon  du  tour  de 
France  (The  Itinerant  Journeyman),  in  which  a  workingman 
marries  a  young  girl  of  the  aristocratic  class.  The  ideas  of 
Pierre  Leroux  on  the  rebirth  of  souls  in  new  bodies,  for  the 
achievement  of  progress,  recur  in  Spiridion  and  the  Sept 
cordes  de  la  lyre.  Le  Meunier  d'Angibault  (The  Miller  of 
Angibault)  is  almost  communistic,  and  in  the  Peche  de  M. 
Antoine  (The  Transgression  of  M.  Antoine)  George  Sand 
preaches  the  socialistic  theories  of  Charles  Fourier.  Her 
musical  preoccupations  and  the  mystic  Czech  compositions 
of  Chopin  may  be  recognized  in  her  novels  Consuelo  and  La 
Comtesse  de  Rudolstadt,  which  are  full  of  surprise  and  mys- 
tery. During  her  romantic  liaison  with  Chopin,  she  took  him 
to  Majorca  for  his  health,  and  cared  for  him  there.  While  in 
Spain,  she  was  often  obliged  to  perform  the  most  arduous 
household  duties,  on  account  of  the  impossibility  of  obtaining 
domestic  service,  such  was  the  hatred  of  the  Spaniards  for  the 
French,  kept  alive  by  the  clergy,  because  Napoleon  had  abol- 
ished the  Tribunal  of  the  Inquisition  in  Spain.1  The  revolu- 
tion of  1848  interrupted  her  democratic  and  social  propaganda 

1  Napoleon  suppressed  feudal  taxation  and  feudal  rights.  He  held  that 
the  priests  ought  to  limit  themselves  to  guiding  the  conscience,  without 
exercising  any  other  jurisdiction.  Conquered  Spain  was  mute;  but  the 
Inquisition  answered  with  this  catechism:  Tell  me,  my  child,  who  are  you? 
A  Spaniard  by  the  grace  of  God. — What  do  you  mean  by  that?  An  honest 
man. — Who  is  the  enemy  of  our  happiness?  The  Emperor  of  the  French. — 
How  many  natures  has  he?  Two:  the  human  nature  and  the  diabolic. — 
How  many  emperors  of  the  French  are  there?  One  real  emperor  in  three 
deceptive  persons. — What  are  their  names?  Napoleon,  Murat,  and 
Manuel  Godoy. — Which  of  the  three  is  the  most  wicked?  They  are  all 
three  equally  so. — Whence  does  Napoleon  come?  From  sin. — Whence  is 
Murat  derived?  From  Napoleon. — Whence  does  Godoy  originate?  From 
the  formation  of  these  two. — What  is  the  spirit  of  the  first?  Pride  and 
despotism. — Of  the  second?  Rapine  and  cruelty. — Of  the  third?  Cupid- 
ity, treason,  and  ignorance. — What  are  the  French?  Former  Christians 

404 


THE   MODERN   NOVEL 

arid  George  Sand  wrote  some  political  works.  But  this  period 
was  of  short  duration,  and  she  soon  returned  to  her  country 
place  at  Nohant  (Berri),  and  began  to  describe  the  customs 
and  the  passions  of  the  peasants  who  surrounded  her.  These 
descriptions  evidenced  an  incomparable  freshness  combined 
with  ease  and  simplicity  of  style,  and  revealed  a  genius  for 
the  idyl.  Here  she  wrote  Francois  le  Champi  (Francis  the 
Foundling) ;  Les  Maitres  Sonneurs  (The  Master  Bellringers)  ; 
La  Petite  Fadette,  and  La  Mare  au  Didble  (The  Devil's  Pool) 
— a  sketch  of  rural  life  that  almost  attains  the  simple  beauty 
of  the  antique. 

George  Sand,  in  ten  volumes,  told  the  story  of  her  past 
life  in  Histoire  de  ma  vie  and  in  Elle  et  Lui,  a  novel 
which  caused  a  stir  because  Lui  was  considered  to  be  Al- 
fred de  Musset,  who  had  just  died.  The  brother  of  de  Musset 
replied  in  a  cruel  pamphlet :  Lui  et  Elle.  Madame  Dudevant 
now  entered  on  the  third  period  of  her  literary  career.  It 
embraced:  Jean  de  la  Roche;  Valvedre,  the  counterpart 
of  Indiana;  La  Confession  d'une  jeune  file;  Mademoiselle  de 
la  Quintinie,  a  novel  of  religious  discussion  in  reply  to  Sibylle 
by  Octave  Feuillet;  Malgre  tout  (In  spite  of  all) ;  Cesarine 
Dietrich;  S&ur  Jeanne,  etc.  These  novels  are  purely  romantic. 

The  best  drama  by  George  Sand  is  the  Marquis  de  Ville- 
mer,  which  she  drew  from  her  novel  of  the  same  name.  Her 
other  plays  include  Claudie;  La  Petite  Fadette;  Le  Manage 
de  Victorine;  Les  Beaux  Messieurs  de  Boisdore.  During  the 
last  years  of  her  life  she  gave  another  proof  of  her  versatility 
in  the  pleasing  fairy  tales,  La  Eeine  Coax  and  Le  Nuage  Rose 
(The  Pink  Cloud).  Her  old  age  was  very  peaceful  and 
happy.  She  was  of  an  amiable,  optimistic  nature,  incapable 
of  meanness,  always  protecting  the  weak  and  needy.  She  died 
in  1876  at  her  castle  of  Nohant,  known  to  the  people  far  and 
wide  as  la  l>onne  dame  de  Nohant.  A  fine  statue  of  George 
Sand,  by  Clesinger,  decorates  the  entrance  hall  of  the  Theatre- 
FranQais  in  Paris. 

who  have  become  heretics. — Is  it  a  sin  to  put  a  Frenchman  to  death?  No, 
father,  we  win  heaven  by  killing  one  of  these  dogs  of  heretics. — What 
punishment  does  a  Spaniard  deserve  who  fails  in  this  duty?  Death  and 
the  infamy  of  a  traitor. — What  will  deliver  us  from  our  enemies?  Con- 
fidence in  ourselves  and  in  our  arms. 

405 


THE    HISTORY   OF   FRENCH   LITERATURE 

George  Sand's  literary  fertility  is  almost  past  belief.  She 
wrote  eighty  novels,  twenty  plays,  ten  volumes  of  the  His- 
toire  de  ma  vie,  the  travels  in  Italy  and  Majorca,  besides 
dialogues,  stories,  society  comedies.  Yet  in  the  forty-four 
years  of  her  literary  life  her  powers  did  not  deteriorate. 

Apropos  of  the  letters  of  de  Musset  and  herself,  George 
Sand  wrote  to  Sainte-Beuve :  "A  true  story,  which  perhaps 
masks  the  folly  of  one  and  the  affection  of  the  other — the 
folly  of  both,  if  you  wish ;  but  nothing  odious  or  cowardly  in 
our  hearts,  nothing  which  might  stain  sincere  souls." 

She  wrote  to  de  Musset :  ' '  Ascend  to  God  on  the  rays  of 
your  genius,  and  send  your  muse  to  earth  to  tell  men  the 
mysteries  of  love  and  faith." 

Musset  wrote  to  her :  ' '  Be  a  brother,  my  great  and  good 
George.  You  have  made  a  man  of  a  child ;  where  would  I  be 
without  you,  my  love?  Look  where  you  took  me,  and  where 
you  left  me.  How  you  took  me  by  the  hand  to  replace  me 
on  my  path.  .  .  .  Think  of  that;  I  have  but  you." 

Jules  Sandeau  (1811-83),  who  began  by  collaborating 
with  George  Sand,  is  the  author  of  some  twenty  novels  of 
provincial  life,  wholesome  in  theme  and  treatment,  and  dra- 
matic in  structure.  It  was  from  one  of  these  that  the  ad- 
mirable comedy,  Le  Gendre  de  Monsieur  Poirier,  was  adapted 
by  Augier.  The  greater  number  of  Sandeau 's  novels  ap- 
peared originally  in  the  Revue  des  Deux-Mondes  and  other 
periodicals;  among  them  are:  Mademoiselle  de  la  Seigliere, 
Valcreuse,  Madame  de  Sommerville,  Le  Docteur  Herbaut, 
Catherine,  La  Maison  de  Penarvan.  Sandeau  became  a  mem- 
ber of  the  Academy  in  1858. 

Dumas  pere,  Sue,  and  Soulie  were  the  principal  repre- 
sentatives of  those  Romanticists,  called  "  les  violents,"  whose 
special  achievement  was  dramatic  effect  and  the  portrayal 
of  exaggerated  passion. 

Alexandre  Dumas,  the  elder,  is  without  doubt  the  most 
productive  of  modern  novelists;  he  is  also  celebrated  as  a 
dramatic  author.  Born  in  1803  at  Villers-Cotterets,  he  was 
the  son  of  a  general  of  the  Republic,  and  the  grandson  of 
a  negress.  His  preliminary  education  was  very  incomplete. 
When  he  came  to  Paris  at  the  age  of  twenty  to  seek  his  for- 
tune, he  made  application  to  General  Foy,  then  a  member  of 

406 


THE    MODERN   NOVEL 

the  Chamber  of  Deputies.  The  general  questioned  him  con- 
cerning his  abilities,  and  the  conversation  was  pretty  much  as 
follows:  "  First,  I  must  know  for  what  you  are  fitted." 
"  Oh,  not  for  very  much!  " — "  Well,  what  do  you  know? 
A  little  mathematics?  "  "No,  General."—"  You  have,  at 
least, some  notion  of  geometry  and  physics?  "  "  No,  General." 
— "  You  know  Latin  and  Greek?  "  "  Very  little."—"  Then 
perhaps  you  have  some  knowledge  of  bookkeeping?  "  "  Not 
the  least  in  the  world." — "  Give  me  your  address,"  the  Gen- 
eral said,  in  desperation,  "  and  I  shall  try  to  think  of  some- 
thing for  you  to  do."  Dumas  wrote  his  address.  "  We  are 
safe !  ' '  the  general  exclaimed,  clapping  his  hands.  ' '  You 
write  beautifully."  So  he  got  Dumas  a  clerkship,  at  twelve 
hundred  francs,  in  the  house  of  the  Duke  of  Orleans.  Refer- 
ring to  this  interview  with  General  Foy,  Dumas  used  to  say : 
"  At  each  question,  I  felt  the  blood  rushing  to  my  head ;  it  was 
the  first  time  I  had  been  put  face  to  face  with  my  ignorance. ' ' 

Conscious  of  his  defective  education,  Dumas  spent  his 
evenings  in  learning  the  dead  languages,  and  in  reading  the 
principal  works  of  French  literature.  After  three  years  of 
arduous  and  persistent  toil,  he  tried  his  hand  as  a  writer  by 
publishing  a  volume  of  Nouvelles  and  several  plays.  His 
first  dramatic  success  was  the  performance,  at  the  Theatre- 
Francais,  of  his  Henri  III  et  sa  cour,  an  historical  drama 
in  prose.  Its  initial  presentation  was  a  literary  event,  as  it 
expressed  a  reaction  against  the  classic  traditions  of  the  old 
tragedy.  Quite  new  to  the  French  theater  was  his  employ- 
ment of  historical  personages,  of  scenes  of  brutal  violence,  of 
the  fashions  and  furnishings  of  the  period  represented  in  the 
play.  During  the  ensuing  ten  years  he  wrote  twenty-two 
dramas,  mostly  in  five  acts.  Four  were  in  verse ;  one,  in  nine- 
teen scenes,  pictured  the  whole  life  of  Napoleon  I. 

Among  his  dramatic  works  are :  La  Tour  de  Nesle;  Richard 
Darlington;  Le  Mari  de  la  veuve;  Teresa;  Catherine  Howard; 
Caligula;  Un  Mariage  sous  Louis  XV;  Mademoiselle  de  Belle- 
Isle;  and  Antony,  his  most  brilliant  success  during  this  first 
period  of  his  productivity.  The  titular  hero  of  Antony — 
grave,  mysterious,  always  armed  with  a  poignard,  always  a 
prey  to  his  exalted  sentiments — was  accepted,  for  the  moment, 
as  the  type  of  fashionable  youth.  This  Antony  is  a  foundling 

407 


THE    HISTORY   OF    FRENCH   LITERATURE 

(but  not  a  poverty-stricken  foundling)  who,  on  returning 
from  a  journey,  finds  the  woman  he  loves  married  to  another. 
He  pursues  her,  compromises  her  honor,  and  ends  by  stabbing 
her  to  save  her  reputation.  In  La  Tour  de  Nesle,  the  in- 
terest centers  in  a  young  man  who  succeeds  in  escaping  from  a 
sack  in  which  he  was  inclosed  and  thrown  into  the  river.  The 
situations  are  theatrical,  and  disclose  as  the  instigators  of  the 
attempted  murder,  the  wife  and  sisters-in-law  of  King  Louis 
X,  "the  Quarreler." 

Dumas  traveled  for  a  time  in  foreign  lands,  and  recorded 
his  impressions  of  these  travels  in  Impressions  de  Voyage; 
La  Suisse;  Au  midi  de  la  France;  Les  Bords  du  Bhin;  I'ltalie; 
I'Espagne;  I'Afrlque;  De  Paris  a  Astrakan;  Le  Caucase. 
But  his  fancy  carried  him  too  far ;  and  these  tales  of  a  traveler 
cannot  be  taken  seriously. 

Dumas  fairly  flooded  France  and  the  rest  of  Europe  with 
his  novels.  Equipped  with  a  boundless  fancy,  a  fertile  in- 
vention, and  a  facility  for  the  delineation  of  uncommon  and 
piquant  situations  and  events,  he  fascinated  the  fiction  read- 
ers of  all  nations.  Yet  his  novels  are  prolix,  often  contain- 
ing explanatory  passages  of  great  length;  were  it  not  for  his 
magic  in  making  the  impossible  plausible,  and  in  throwing  a 
glamour  over  characters  that  bear  little  relation  to  life,  his 
tales  would  fall  to  the  level  of  Miinchausen's.  As  R.  L.  Ste- 
venson has  aptly  remarked:  "  The  bony  fist  of  the  showman 
visibly  propels  them,  their  bellies  are  stuffed  with  bran;  and 
yet  we  eagerly  partake  of  their  adventures."  Most  of  these 
novels  first  appeared  in  the  feuilletons  of  the  great  Paris 
dailies ;  often  Dumas  published  three  or  four  of  them  at  once 
in  as  many  different  journals,  so  that  at  the  end  of  the  year 
they  filled  fifty  or  sixty  volumes.  Their  familiar  titles  in- 
clude :  Les  Trois  Mousquetaires;  Vingt  ans  apres;  Le  Vicomte 
de  Bragelonne; 1  Le  Comte  de  Monte-Cristo;  La  Eeine  Margot; 
Le  Chevalier  de  Maison-Rouge.  Les  Trois  Mousquetaires  and 
Monte-Cristo  contributed  chiefly  to  the  author's  popularity 
and  fortune.  Monte-Cristo  especially  has  enjoyed  a  constant 

1  Les  Trois  Mousquetaires,  original  edition,  1844,  in  eight  volumes. 
Vingt  ans  apres,  original  edition,  1845,  in  ten  volumes.  Le  Vicomte  de 
Bragelonne,  original  edition,  1848-50,  in  twenty-six  volumes. 

408 


THE    MODERN   NOVEL 

vogue  the  world  over,  and  is  still  devoured,  even  in  the  trans- 
lated versions,  by  countless  persons  who  read  books  only  to 
be  amused.  As  for  Les  Trois  Mousquetaires,  who  that  reads 
at  all  does  not  know  D  'Artagnan,  Porthos,  Athos,  and  Aramis  ? 
These  stories,  with  the  others  in  the  series,  are  pure  tales  of 
adventure;  whatever  their  faults,  the  author  had  a  trick  of 
compelling  the  attention  that  none  of  his  numerous  imitators 
has  quite  succeeded  in  acquiring.  Altogether,  the  novels  of 
Dumas  brought  him  an  income  of  nearly  two  hundred 
thousand  francs,  which  was  quickly  consumed  in  ostenta- 
tious follies.  His  chateau  of  Monte-Cristo  cost  him  fabulous 
sums;  he  spent  money  without  reckoning.  Hence  he  had  to 
write  continuously;  and  he  wrote  too  much:  that  was  his 
mistake  and  the  source  of  his  faults.  He  abused  his  life 
and  his  robust  constitution,  and  left  nothing  of  very  high 
value.  Often  his  novels,  after  appearing  first  as  feuilletons 
and  then  in  book  form,  were  cut  up  into  scenes  and  staged  as 
interminable  dramas.  One  of  them,  Monte-Cristo,  was  pro- 
longed through  two  evenings. 

Dumas  drew  liberally  upon  French  history,  and,  though  he 
did  not  pretend  to  adhere  to  historical  facts,  many  ill-ad- 
vised readers  have  gone  to  his  pages  for  instruction.  The  his- 
torical novel,  it  is  perhaps  needless  to  say,  is  more  likely  to 
confuse  than  to  assist  the  student  of  epochs  gone  by;  in  the 
case  of  Dumas  it  is  not  even  germane  to  literature.  In  his 
Memoires  d'un  Medecin  he  has  given  us  a  portrait  of  the  char- 
latan Cagliostro,  together  with  the  story  of  Marie- Antoinette 's 
famous  necklace.  A  royalist  novel,  Le  Chevalier  de  Maison- 
Rouge,  supplied  the  Revolution  of  1848  with  its  republican 
song,  Mourir  pour  la  patrie! — which  has  become  a  second 
Marseillaise.  This  revolution,  of  which  Dumas  was  a  warm 
partisan,  wrecked  his  fortune.  In  1860  he  took  part  in  the 
expedition  of  Garibaldi,  and  was  present  at  the  battles  he 
described.  In  the  midst  of  his  travels  he  did  not  cease  to  have 
his  drama  played,  and  to  publish  novels  in  feuilleton  and  in 
book  form.  To  cap  his  activities,  he  wrote  an  amusing  and 
useful  work  on  cooking. 

Our  astonishment  at  seeing  such  a  prodigious  number  of 
works — often  three  or  four  at  a  time — issue  from  the  brain 
of  a  single  man  is  modified  when  his  method  is  explained. 

409 


THE    HISTORY   OF    FRENCH   LITERATURE 

The  secret  was  disclosed  during  the  progress  of  a  lawsuit 
against  two  Parisian  journals  which  he  had  agreed  to  supply 
with  stories.  It  transpired  that  he  was  not  the  sole  author  of 
his  tales,  but  that  he  employed  anonymous  collaborators  or 
secretaries,  whose  writings  he  recast.  Dumas  defended  his 
course  in  this  respect  by  saying  that  he  relied  on  his  assistants 
only  for  the  rough  sketch  of  the  work,  to  which  he  himself 
gave  the  finishing  touches.  E.  de  Mirecourt  exposed  him  in 
his  pamphlets,  Le  Mercantilisme  litteraire,  and  Fabnque  de 
Romans:  Maison  Dumas  et  Compagnie.  It  was  facetiously 
remarked  that  no  one  had  ever  read  Dumas 's  entire  works — 
not  even  Dumas  himself.  Indeed,  Dumas  is  reported  as  saying 
of  a  book  which  bears  his  name :  ' '  I  signed  it,  but  I  have  not 
read  it."  There  have  likewise  been  revelations  of  audacious 
plagiarisms  of  works  by  Schiller,  Sir  Walter  Scott,  Chateau- 
briand, and  others.  But  Dumas  justified  himself  on  the  theory 
that  "  the  man  of  genius  does  not  steal,  but  conquers."  And 
after  all  the  Les  Trois  Mousquetaires  remains  one  of  the  most 
popular  works  in  the  literature  of  all  nations. 

Frederic  Soulie  is  the  author  of  some  thirty  sensational 
novels.  A  characteristic  product  of  his  gloomy  imagination 
is  his  Memoires  du  diable,  in  which  Satan,  disclosing  the  secrets 
of  men 's  lives,  reveals  the  vices  of  those  reputed  virtuous,  and 
the  virtues  of  those  reputed  vicious.  Of  his  plays,  La  Closerie 
des  Genets  11846)  conveys  a  faithful  picture  of  Breton 
customs.  \i>u.»L  l/Sryi  *-  %A%f4$liwW*r'Uw  pVjfiSl 

Marie  Joseph  Sue  \  1.804-57),  best  known  as  Eugene  Sue 
— a  pen  name  borrowed  from  his  sponsor,  Prince  Beauharnais 
— f  was  also  a  contributor  of  the^  feuilleton  novel.  Hejtried  the 
practice  of  medicine  with  indifferent  success,  toyecHFor  a  time 
with  art,  and  for  six  years  found  employment  as  a  surgeon  in 
the  navy.  Sue's  own  father,  before  him,  was  a  simple  ship's 
doctor.  Yet  the  author  of  Le  Juif  Errant  (The  Wandering 
Jew) ,  who  took  to  novel  writing  almost  by  accident,  could  not 
at  first  forget  that  his  patroness  was  the  Empress  Josephine. 
Some  of  his  earlier  works — Arthur,  Mathilde,  Le  Marquis  de 
Letoriere — are  imbued  with  the  aristocratic  spirit;  they  sig- 
nalize, moreover,  the  triumph  of  evil.  Later,  he  experienced 
a  change  of  heart,  and  became  a  social  democrat.  We  note  a 
corresponding  increase  in  his  fortunes :  to  name  one  instance, 

410 


Le  Juif  Errant  (1845)  alone  brought  him  two  hundred  thou- 
sand francs.  The  imaginative  qualities  of  this  tale  have  given 
it  a  certain  vitality ;  though  in  its  grotesque  exaggerations,  in 
order  to  support  his  anti- Jesuitical  thesis,  the  author's  imag- 
ination outran  his  art.  His  Les  Mysteres  de  Paris  (1843)  — 
an  offense  to  common  sense  and  sound  moral  sentiment — ap- 
peared, curiously  enough,  in  the  dignified  Journal  des  Debats, 
and  was  devoured  alike  by  persons  of  high  and  low  degree..—— 
Three  prolific  writers  who  have  met  with  great  pecuniary 
success  are  Paul  de  Kock  (1794-1871),  who  reveled  in 
descriptions  of  the  seamy  side  of  lower  middle-class  life 
in  Paris;  Hector  Malot,  whose  Sans  famille  circulated 
throughout  Europe;  and  Georges  Ohnet.  The  last-named 
novelist  (born  in  Paris,  1848)  is  what  our  American  pub- 
lishers would  call  a  "  best  seller."  His  popularity,  extend- 
ing to  Germany,  and  emphasized  by  the  dramatization  of 
his  fictions,  has  long  been  a  thorn  in  the  side  of  French  literary 
critics.  Jules  Lemaitre  remarks :  "  II  a  1  'elegance  des  chromo- 
lithographes,  la  noblesse  des  sujets  de  pendule,  les  effets  de 
cuisse  des  cabotins,  le  sentimentalisme  des  romances  ' ' * — damn- 
ing specifications  of  literary  infamy  which  lose  their  flavor  in 
an  English  translation.  Meanwhile,  Le  Maitre  de  forges 
thrives  on  Lemaitre 's  excoriation  with  250,000  copies  sold; 
while  Serge  Panine;  Lise  Fleuron;  La  Comtesse  Sarah,  and 

I     Le  Docteur  Rameau  have  all  helped  toward  enriching  their 

<      author.        $yffrt4^^(/*^^ 

The  great  popularity  in  Franc!  of  Le  Roman  d'un  Jeune 
>  Homme  Pauvre,  by  Octave  Feuilleii (1821-90),  has  not  served 

foi  to  strengthen  him  in  the  esteem  of  nis  more  critical  country- 
men; just  as  in  our  own  country  its  repute  as  a  classic  for 
young  ladies  has  perhaps  distracted  attention  from  Feuillet's 
more  robust  productions.  The  favor,  still  enjoyed,  among 
French  women  by  this  optimistic  romancier  mondain  is 
not  without  warrant.  Feuillet  knew  fashionable  society,  and 
recorded  his  observations  of  it  in  a  good  and  facile  literary 
style.  He  had,  moreover,  his  moments  of  power.  His  works 

1  "  He  has  the  elegance  of  a  chromolithograph,  the  nobleness  of  a  figure 
on  a  (French)  clock,  the  poses  of  a  cheap  actor,  the  mawkishness  of  senti- 
mental songs." 

411 


THE   HISTORY   OF    FRENCH   LITERATURE 

include  Scenes  et  Comedies,  patterned  after  Musset;  Dalila; 
Le  Pour  et  le  Centre;  Sibylle — to  which  George  Sand  replied 
with  Mademoiselle  de  La  Quintinie.  In  two  of  his  later  and 
better  novels — Julia  de  Trec&ur  and  M.  de  Camors — he  leans 
to  realism. 

Joseph  Xavier  Saintine  (1798-1865),  whose  real  name  was 
Boniface,  earned  the  croix  d'honneur  and  the  Montyon  prize 
of  three  thousand  francs  with  his  novel,  Picciola — the  story 
of  a  prisoner  who  found  comfort  in  fostering  a  flower  blossom- 
ing in  a  crevice  of  his  cell.  He  collaborated  with  Scribe  in 
some  two  hundred  plays. 

Henri  Monnier  (1799-1877),  who,  in  the  domain  of  carica- 
ture and  satire,  wielded  the  pen  and  brush  with  equal  facility, 
is  remembered  as  the  creator  of  the  celebrated  Joseph  Prud- 
homme  (Memoir es  de  M.  Joseph  Prudhomme) — the  modern 
type  of  a  self-satisfied  nonentity ;  pompous,  arrogant,  trite,  and 
vulgar  of  speech.  Monnier 's  Scenes  Populaires  contain  true 
and  witty  pictures  of  Parisian  life. 

Edmond  About  (1828-85),  novelist,  playwright,  and 
journalist,  has  been  called  the  greatest  blagueur  of  modern 
times.  He  studied  archaeology  in  Athens,  and  upon  his  return 
to  France  published  La  Grece  contemporaine,  a  satire  on  the 
morals  and  manners  of  the  Greeks — followed,  a  year  later, 
by  his  best  novel,  Le  Roi  des  montagnes,  in  which  he  de- 
scribed with  infinite  drollery  the  banditti  of  modern  Greece. 
L'Homme  a  I'oreille  cassee;  Tolla;  Le  Nez  d'un  notaire,  are 
among  his  other  novels.  His  dramatic  pieces,  most  of  which 
were  included  in  the  collection,  Theatre  impossible,  are  of  no 
great  consequence.  He  was  a  brilliant  journalist,  and  founded, 
with  Sarcey,  Le  XlXme  Siecle — the  most  humorous  French 

\journal  of  the  period.  \^ 

Emile  Erckmann  (born  1822)  and  Alexandre  Chatrian 
A  (1826-90),  collaborators  under  the  name  of  Erckmann- 
Chatrian,  deserve  passing  mention  for  their  novels  of  the 
Revolutionary  and  first  Napoleonic  period — including  Madame 
Therese  and  Le  Consent  de  1813 — in  which  they  protested 
against  the  horrors  of  war;  and  for  their  plays,  including 
L'Ami  Fritz;  Les  Rantzau,  and  other  adaptations  from  their 
tales,  chiefly  concerned  with  Alsace. 

Emile  Souvestre  (1806-36),  whose  Tin  Philosophe  sous  les 

412 


.  i 


THE   MODERN   NOVEL 

toils  won  him  recognition  from  the  Academy,  has,  in  Lcs 
derniers  Bretons,  his  best  novel,  left  us  some  delightful  descrip- 
tions of  the  legendary  Armorica.  His  novels,  written  in  a 
graceful  style  and  thoroughly  wholesome,  voiced  a  virile  pro- 
test against  the  greed  and  heartlessness  of  a  time  when  the  cry 
was  everywhere  Enrichissez-vous! 

Jules  Verne  (1828-1905)  has  happily  commingled  scientific 
knowledge  with  the  fancy  of  the  novelist;  and  though  his 
works  cannot  be  taken  very  seriously  as  literature,  their  in- 
genuity, and  their  complete  success  within  the  intention  of 
the  author,  cannot  be  denied.  Verne,  it  may  be  said,  had  the 
scientific  imagination.  Employing  this  with  no  little  skill, 
and  refraining  from  a  too  great  distortion  of  fact,  he  succeeded 
in  anticipating  some  of  our  "  modern  improvements."  A 
multitude  of  young  people  have  been  vastly  entertained,  and 
not  unprofitably,  by  Le  Voyage  au  centre  de  la  terre;  Cinq 
semaines  en  ballon;  Le  tour  du  monde  en  quatre-vingts  jours: 
\DeJa  terre  a  la  lune}  e£§l 

Of  Henry  Greville  (Madame  Alice  Durand),  born  in  1842, 
and  long  a  resident  in  Russia,  it  is  perhaps  sufficient  to  note 
that  she  wrote  a  number  of  novels  (Dosia;  Suzanne;  Cephise, 
etc.),  mostly  concerned  with  Russian  "  high  life,"  that  were 
accounted  attractive  in  their  day. 

Victor  Cherbuliez  (1825-99),  a  Genevan  by  birth,  and  dis- 
tantly related  to  J.  J.  Rousseau,  brought  back  from  the  Orient 
a  fund  of  archaeological  information  which  he  put  forth  in 
the  form  of  novels — among  them,  A  propos  d'un  cheval  and 
Un  Cheval  de  Phidias.  He  also  attempted  a  kind  of  philo- 
sophical fiction.  His  output  was  copious — a  part  of  it  of 
considerable  merit,  but  revealing  a  higher  talent  for  disserta- 
tion than  for  creation.  Samuel  Brohl  et  Cie;  Le  Roman  d'une 
Honnete  Femme;  La  Bete;  Le  Comte  Kostia,  are  character- 
istic. Cherbuliez  was  elected  a  member  of  the  Academy  in 
1881. 

Andre  Theuriet  (born  at  Marly,  1833,  died  1907)  pub- 
lished in  1867  a  volume  of  poems,  Le  Chemin  du  bois,  for 
which  the  Academy  bestowed  upon  him  the  Vitel  prize. 
Twenty  years  later  he  became  an  Academician.  Theuriet  lived 
in  the  country  for  upward  of  thirty  years,  and  it  is  the  coun- 
try that  inspired  not  only  his  poems,  but  the  numerous  novels 

413 


which  he  began  to  write  when  he  was  approaching  middle  age. 
These  tales,  written  in  a  melodious  style,  and  portraying  the 
gentler  emotions  and  aspects  of  rural  life,  are  restful  in  the 
reading.  ' '  His  novels  in  general, ' '  says  a  French  critic, ' '  are 
not  founded  on  some  complicated  intrigue.  They  exhale  the 
sweet  perfume  of  new  hay  and  of  ripe  wheat ;  they  awaken  in 
the  reader  the  memory  of  the  mysterious  life  of  the  forest — 
always  the  same  and  yet  so  variant  with  the  change  of  the 
hour  and  the  season."  Some  of  his  principal  novels  are  Toute 
seule;  Mademoiselle  Guignon;  Sauvageonne;  Michel  Ver- 
neuil;  Rose-Lise  Chanteraine  (1903). 

In  his  discourse  upon  entering  the  Academy  (in  1891  as 
Feuillet's  successor),  Pierre  Loti  said  that  he  belonged  to  no 
school  and  knew  little  of  the  literature  of  the  day.  It  is,  in- 
deed, apparent  from  his  writings  that  Loti * — whose  real  name 
is  Julien  Viaud — has  no  literary  lineage,  and  that  he  stands 
apart  in  the  peculiar  vehicle  he  has  made  his  own.  An  exotic, 
like  Chateaubriand  and  Bernardin  de  Saint-Pierre,  his  resem- 
blance to  these  writers  is  otherwise  remote.  Born  at  Rochef  ort 
in  1850,  he  was  for  many  years  a  naval  officer,  and  gathered 
at  first  hand,  in  foreign  lands,  the  impressions  he  had  so  ex- 
quisitely inscribed.  His  literary  style  is  exceedingly  simple 
and  direct,  yet  so  delicate  and  elusive  in  the  thought  it  conveys 
that  his  stories  lose  much  in  the  translation.  Read  in  French, 
his  tales  transport  us  to  the  scene  of  his  selection ;  and  whether 
we  fall  under  the  spell  of  his  sensuous  sentiment,  or,  with 
Professor  Saintsbury,  find  it  somewhat  "  rancid,"  we  cannot 
escape  the  cobweb  of  illusion  that  he  weaves  about  us.  Loti's 
heroines  are,  with  one  exception  (Gaud,  in  Pecheur  d'Islande), 
women  of  foreign  climes:  in  Aziyade  and  Les  Desenchantes, 
the  Turkish  beauties  screened  with  jaslimaJc  and  ferejeh; 
in  the  captivating  Japonneries  d'automne  and  in  Madame 
Chrysantheme,  the  bewildering  Japanese.  How  far  this 
Frenchman  has  succeeded  where  so  many  writers  have  failed, 
in  exploring  the  field  of  Nippon,  may  perhaps  in  some  measure 
be  inferred  from  the  comment  of  Laf cadio  Hearn,  contained  in 
a  letter  published  by  Mr.  Osman  Edwards : 

1  His  companions  nicknamed  him  thus  because  of  his  modesty;  the 
Indian  flower  hides  its  head  under  its  leaves. 

414 


THE    MODERN   NOVEL 

"  There  is  not  much  heart  in  Loti;  but  there  is  a  fine 
brain;  and  there  is  a  nervous  system  so  extraordinary  that 
it  forces  imagination  back  to  the  conditions  of  old  Greek  life, 
when  men  had  senses  more  perfect  than  now.  Very  possibly 
this  Julien  Viaud  has  in  his  veins  the  old  blood  of  Magna 
Graecia.  No  other  literary  man  living  sees  and  hears  and 
smells  and  thrills  so  finely  as  he.  ...  As  for  what  he  says  of 
the  Japanese  women,  it  is  perfectly  impeccably  accurate  so 
far  as  it  consists  of  a  record  of  observations  of  senses.  Loti's 
senses  can  never  err  any  more  than  the  film  on  a  photographic 
plate  with  a  sensitivity  of  one  hundred.  But  he  keeps  to  sur- 
faces; his  life  is  surfaces.  Almost  in  the  way  that  some 
creatures  have  their  skeletons  outside  of  themselves  instead 
of  inside,  so  his  plexuses  of  feeling  are.  What  the  finer 
nature  of  the  Japanese  woman  is,  no  man  has  told.  Those 
who  know  cannot  tell :  it  would  be  too  much  like  writing 
of  the  sweetness  of  one's  own  sister  or  mother.  One  must 
leave  it  in  sacred  silence — with  a  prayer  to  all  the  gods." 

Loti 's  Ramuntcho  is  a  tragic  love  idyl  suggested  to  him  by 
his  long  sojourn  in  the  Basque  country.  L'Exilee  contains  a 
charming  description  of  Venice.  In  L'Inde  sans  les  Anglais 
he  has  dwelt  upon  those  Oriental  religions  which  seem  to  have 
turned  him  from  his  own  faith.  Man  frere  Yves,  in  which  a 
tipsy  sailor  marries  a  girl  in  every  port  where  his  ship  touches, 
and  Pecheur  d'Islande,  the  pathetic  tale  of  a  Breton  fisherman 
sent  to  Iceland,  are  wonderful  tales  of  the  sea. 

Anatole  Thibaut  (born  in  Paris,  1844),  better  known  as 
Anatole  France,  is  the  son  of  a  bookseller,  and,  when  still  a 
very  young  man,  began  to  lay  the  foundation  of  his  abundant 
literary  knowledge  by  browsing  among  the  bookshops.  In 
the  '60's  we  find  him  associated  as  a  poet  with  the  Parnas- 
siens.  Thereafter  he  developed  a  prose  style  of  marvelous 
finish  and  lucidity,  and,  both  as  critic  and  novelist,  has  es- 
tablished himself  among  the  foremost  modern  writers  of 
France.  He  was  for  a  long  time  an  idealist  drawing  upon 
the  past  for  his  themes;  but,  latterly,  the  life  of  to-day  has 
engaged  his  subtle  and  ironic  turn  of  mind,  with  the  result 
that  as  a  realist  he  is  second  to  none.  Anatole  France  is  first 
of  all  a  critic.  As  he  says  himself  in  the  Preface  to  his  articles 
collected  under  the  title  of  La  Vie  litteraire,  criticism  is  the 

415 


THE   HISTORY   OF   FRENCH   LITERATURE 

latest  of  all  literary  forms,  and  will  ultimately  absorb  them 
all.  Hence  his  novels  are,  not  only  in  the  author's  attitude 
but  in  their  actual  form,  more  akin  to  criticism  than  to  fiction 
as  we  ordinarily  understand  it.  This  applies  to  one  of  his 
most  notable  novels,  the  artistic  and  admirable  La  Rotisserie 
de  la  Reine  Pedauque,  in  which  he  has  evoked  the  philo- 
sophical and  libertine  spirit  of  eighteenth-century  Paris. 
Frankly  subjective  as  a  critic,  he  has  in  his  novel  Le  Crime  de 
Sylvestre  Bonnard,  sketched  a  portrait  of  himself.  In  Thais 
he  has  given  his  irony  full  play  in  a  pyschological  study  of 
the  early  Christians  of  Thebes.  Le  Mannequin  d 'osier  is  a 
piquantly  satirical  exposition  of  the  France  of  to-day;  L'Orme 
du  Mail,  a  running  fire  of  ironical  and  witty  comment,  be- 
longs to  the  same  category.  Crainquebille,  the  simple  but 
dramatic  story  of  a  wretched  huckster  of  carrots  and  cabbages, 
was  staged  with  great  success  at  the  Theatre  Antoine. 

The  polymorphous  and  gifted  Jules  Lemaitre  (born  in 
1853)  is  a  bit  of  a  poet,  a  playwright  of  some  pretensions,  a 
writer  of  agreeable  tales,  and,  above  all,  an  immensely  clever 
critic  of  literature  and  the  drama.  His  acute  and  lively  Les 
Contemporains  (containing  his  celebrated  depreciation  of 
Georges  Ohnet)  and  the  Impressions  de  theatre  are  widely 
quoted,  and  somewhat  variously  estimated  in  respect  to  their 
value  as  permanent  critical  contributions.  Among  his  collected 
tales — characterized  by  daintiness  and  delicacy — are  Serenus, 
the  history  of  a  martyr;  Dix  contes;  Myrrha;  Conies  d'au- 
jourd'hui.  He  has  written  a  rather  remarkable  novel,  Les 
Rois.  "  This  writer,  Lemaitre,"  says  Gaston  Deschamps,  "  is, 
I  believe,  with  Anatole  France,  that  one  among  our  elders  who 
knows  best  the  resources  and  mischievous  tricks  of  the  French 
language." 


CHAPTER   XXVIII 

THE   REALISTIC   NOVEL, 

ROMANTICISM  ' '  having  been  consumed  by  its  own  flames, ' ' 
a  reaction  took  place  which  soon  led  to  realism,  by  which 
is  understood  the  endeavor  to  portray  life — people,  manners, 
conversation — in  its  everyday  aspects,  and  with  a  photo- 
graphic accuracy  of  detail.  The  master  of  this  new  school  was 
Balzac ;  its  other  chief  representatives  were  Me'rimee,  Stendhal, 
Flaubert,  the  Goncourts,  and  Daudet. 

Honore  de  Balzac,  born  at  Tours  in  1799,  was  a  brilliant 
and  very  fertile  novelist.  Vapereau  tells  us  that  at  five  years 
of  age  he  read  the  Scriptures,  and  lost  himself  with  delight  in 
their  mysterious  depths.  All  books  that  fell  into  his  hands 
he  devoured  in  a  wink.  Often  at  dawn  he  set  out,  laden  with 
books,  with  a  piece  of  bread  in  his  pocket,  and  went  into  the 
woods,  where  he  read  until  nightfall.  At  the  College  de 
Vendome,  which  he  entered  at  an  early  age,  he  continued  to 
give  himself  up  to  this  passion ;  he  made  it  a  point  to  incur  the 
punishment  of  solitary  confinement  in  one  of  the  college  rooms, 
in  order  that  he  might  pursue  his  reading  free  from  distrac- 
tions and  interruption.  Endowed  with  a  prodigious  memory, 
he  retained  everything:  places,  names,  faces,  the  most  unim- 
portant things.  Disquieting  mental  phenomena  for  a  time 
arrested  the  overactivity  of  his  youthful  brain.  In  the  chaos 
produced  by  a  myriad  of  ideas,  reason  was  suddenly  threat- 
ened with  eclipse;  and  it  became  necessary  to  suspend  his 
studies  temporarily.  Nevertheless,  at  eighteen,  he  had  already 
taken  his  degree  of  bachelor  of  letters,  and  was  at  the  same 
time  pursuing  a  course  in  the  Law  School  of  the  Sorbonne 
and  of  the  College  de  France.  The  father  left  his  son  to  his 
own  resources,  because  he  had  wished  to  make  an  attorney  of 
him,  and  young  Honore  refused  absolutely  to  become  one,  al- 
28  417 


THE   HISTORY   OF   FRENCH   LITERATURE 

though  he  was  clerk  in  a  notary 's  office  for  about  three  years. 
Entering  without  means  into  the  life  of  Paris,  the  young  man 
installed  himself  in  a  garret,  and  began  to  write  with  eager- 
ness in  the  midst  of  his  privations.  He  published  several 
mediocre  novels,1  and  attempted  playwriting,  but  without 
success;  his  toil  did  not  even  procure  him  food.  So  he  bor- 
rowed some  money  from  a  friend,  and  speedily  lost  it  in  a 
printing  enterprise.  Finally,  after  ten  years,  during  which 
he  did  not  let  himself  be  discouraged,  he  achieved  glory.  The 
success  of  Les  Chouans 2  showed  him  that  he  could  depict  only 
contemporary  institutions  and  customs;  and  from  that  time 
on  he  devoted  himself  entirely  to  this  field,  choosing  preferably 
exceptional  lives,  observing  the  least  explored  quarters  of 
Paris  and  the  provincial  cities,  and  bringing  from  these  a 
curious  new  world  filled  with  moral  infirmities,  incomplete 
beings,  degraded  and  abandoned  types. 

In  his  Breton  novel,  Les  Chouans,  he  was  under  the  in- 
fluence of  Scott  and  Cooper.  But  he  came  into  his  own  with 
the  publication  of  La  Peau  de  Chagrin — that  curious  philo- 
sophic study  which  forms  the  first  of  the  psychologic  trilogy 
completed  with  Louis  Lambert  and  Seraphita,  whose  heroine, 
a  disciple  of  the  celebrated  Swedish  mystic,  Swedenborg,  tells 
what  she  has  seen  in  heaven  and  hell. 

Balzac  had  the  habit  of  locking  himself  up  in  his  room, 
and  spending  days  and  nights  in  unceasing  labor,  attired  in  a 
Dominican's  gown.  It  was  his  peculiarity  to  write  with  the 
aid  of  a  lamp,  even  in  broad  day.  He  retired  early,  rose 
to  work  at  one  o'clock  in  the  night,  and  took  strong  coffee 
to  keep  himself  awake  and  excite  his  imagination.  In  six  years 
he  published  more  than  sixty  volumes,  of  which  several  are 
masterpieces.  His  eccentric  method  of  composition  proved  too 
expensive  for  his  publishers  to  bear.  He  would  make  a  rough 
sketch  of  a  novel,  and  send  it  to  the  printer ;  and  this  process 
he  would  repeat  a  dozen,  even  twenty,  times,  until  the  book 
was  finished.3 

1  Under  the  pseudonym  of  Lord  Roone. 

1  Les  Chouans  first  appeared  under  the  name  of  Le  Dernier  Chouan. 

'  This  method  employed  by  Balzac  is  frequently  commented  upon  as 
extraordinary.  But  if  we  except  his  somewhat  unusual  number  of  re- 
visions it  does  not  essentially  differ  from  the  custom  of  certain  of  our 

418 


THE    REALISTIC    NOVEL 

The  aim  of  Balzac,  in  all  his  novels,  was  to  depict  every 
possible  phase  of  the  life  and  manners  of  the  French  during 
the  first  half  of  the  nineteenth  century ;  and,  in  accord  with  an 
all-embracing  plan,  he  gave  his  works  the  general  title  of  La 
Comedie  Humaine.  The  novels  are  classified  in  eight  groups ; 
the  first  part — Etudes  de  Moeurs  (Studies  of  Manners) — em- 
braces six  series:  first,  Scenes  de  la  vie  privee,  twenty-seven 
short  stories  of  which  the  most  famous  is  La  Femme  de  trente 
ans.  Second,  Scenes  de  la  vie  de  province,  in  which  are  found 
his  most  agreeable  works.  Eugenie  Grandet  is  a  delicious  and 
original  picture  of  provincial  life.  The  heroine,  Eugenie, 
has  become  the  personification  of  filial  devotion,  and  her  father 
the  type  of  the  miser.  In  Le  Lys  dans  la  Vallee  (The  Lily  of 
the  Valley) ,  one  of  the  few  productions  of  the  author  written 
with  delicacy  of  feeling,  Balzac  has  described  his  childhood. 
Third,  Scenes  de  la  vie  parisienne.  These  include  two  of  Bal- 
zac's most  famous  novels:  Le  Pere  Goriot,  his  masterpiece,  an 
exposition  of  the  too  indulgent  father  who  sacrifices  himself 
for  daughters  unworthy  of  his  kindness,  and  Cesar  Birotteau 
(Histoire  de  la  grandeur  et  de  la  decadence  de  Cesar  Birot- 
teau, parfumeur),  in  which  Balzac  exhibits  the  type  of  the 
good,  but  weak  man,  dazzled  by  fortune,  and  the  victim  of 
false  friends.  Histoire  des  Treize  and  Les  Parents  pauvres 
are  of  this  series.  Fourth,  Scenes  de  la  vie  de  campagne,  in- 
cluding Le  Medecin  de  Campagne,  one  of  his  principal  novels, 
and  Les  Paysans.  Fifth,  Scenes  de  la  vie  politique.  Sixth, 
Scenes  de  la  vie  militaire,  to  which  Les  Chouans  belongs.  The 
second  part — Serie  des  etudes  philosophiques — embraces  La 
Recherche  de  I'dbsolu,  in  which  the  alchemist,  Balthazar  Claes, 
sacrifices  his  honor  and  his  family  to  his  search  for  the  philoso- 
pher's stone;  together  with  the  psychologic  trilogy  already 
mentioned.  The  third  part  contains  the  Etudes  analytiques 
des  grandes  et  des  petites  vniseres  du  manage. 

Balzac  also  wrote  for  the  theater,  but  only  two  of  his  plays 

contemporary  authors,  whose  rough  drafts  of  a  novel  are  typewritten 
before  elaboration.  The  typewriting  machine  had  not  been  invented  in 
Balzac's  time,  and  so  he  had  recourse  to  the  printer.  It  was  a  question  of 
the  psychology  of  attention;  and  Balzac,  who  like  his  own  Louis  Lambert, 
could  take  in  a  printed  page  at  a  glance,  doubtless  understood  very  well 
the  immense  advantage  of  revising  a  manuscript  in  type. 

419 


were  successful :  La  Mardtre  and  Mercadet  le  faiseur.  Apart 
from  his  novels,  but  not  inferior  in  art  to  the  very  best  of 
them,  are  the  gross  Conies  drolatiques — some  thirty  short  tales 
teeming  with  vitality  and  Rabelaisian  humor,  in  which  Balzac 
brilliantly  reproduced  in  mediaeval  French  the  sensual  manner 
of  the  sixteenth  century. 

Balzac's  faculty  of  poetic  invention  is  greater  than  that 
of  any  other  French  writer;  but  seldom  do  we  find  in  any 
one  author  so  much  that  is  admirable  in  close  proximity  with 
the  mediocre.  Of  this  genius  capable  of  "  producing  mon- 
strosities as  well  as  masterpieces, ' '  Mr.  Henry  James  remarks : 
"  He  is  one  of  the  finest  artists  and  one  of  the  coarsest. 
Viewed  in  one  way,  his  novels  are  ponderous,  shapeless,  over- 
loaded; his  touch  is  graceless,  violent,  barbarous.  Viewed 
in  another,  his  tales  have  more  color,  more  composition,  more 
grasp  of  the  reader's  attention  than  any  other's.  Balzac's 
style  would  demand  a  chapter  apart.  It  is  the  least  simple 
style,  probably,  that  ever  was  written;  it  bristles,  it  cracks, 
it  swells  and  swaggers;  but  it  is  a  perfect  expression  of  the 
man's  genius.  Like  his  genius,  it  contains  a  certain  quantity 
of  everything,  from  immaculate  gold  to  flagrant  dross.  He 
was  a  very  bad  writer,  and  yet  unquestionably  he  was  a  very 
great  writer." 

Balzac  was  one  of  the  founders  of  the  Societe  des  gens  de 
lettres  in  France,  of  which  he  was  called  the  "  Grand 
Marshal."  In  twenty  years  he  published  ninety-seven  works. 
M.  Taine  has  thus  described  his  method  of  composition :  ' '  He 
did  not  set  out  in  the  manner  of  artists,  but  in  that  of 
scholars;  instead  of  painting,  he  dissected.  He  did  not  begin 
violently,  at  the  first  bound — as  did  Shakespeare  and  Saint- 
Simon — in  respect  to  the  soul  of  his  characters ;  he  turned  them 
about,  patiently,  deliberately,  like  an  anatomist — lifting  a 
muscle,  then  a  bone,  then  a  vein,  then  a  nerve,  coming  to  the 
brain  only  after  having  covered  the  whole  system  of  organs 
and  functions.  He  described  the  city,  then  the  street,  and  the 
house.  .  .  .  There  was  in  him  something  of  the  archaelogist, 
the  architect,  the  upholsterer,  the  tailor.  .  .  .  These  different 
factors  of  his  powers  of  analysis  came  one  after  the  other,  each 
one  reading  his  report — the  most  detailed  and  exact  possible ; 
the  artist  listened  scrupulously,  laboriously,  and  his  imagina- 

420 


THE   REALISTIC    NOVEL 

tion  was  ignited  only  after  he  had  accumulated  as  for  a  fire 
this  elaborate  scaffolding  of  paper  scraps.  .  .  .  From  this 
source  arose  several  defects  and  several  merits :  in  many  places 
he  fatigues  many  people.  .  .  .  What  is  worse,  the  book  be- 
comes obscure ;  a  description  is  not  a  painting  .  .  .  the  enu- 
meration of  all  the  stamens  of  a  flower  never  puts  in  our  minds 
the  image  of  a  flower.  .  .  .  But  also  what  power !  what  promi- 
nence and  what  relief  this  interminable  enumeration  gives  to 
the  character!  How  real  he  becomes!  His  characters  live; 
they  have  entered  into  familiar  conversation:  Nucingen, 
Rastignac,  Philippe  Bridau,  Phellion,  Bixiou,  and  a  hundred 
others,  are  men  whom  we  have  seen,  whom  we  mention  to 
give  the  idea  of  a  certain  real  person. ' '  Brunetiere  tells  us : 
"  As  a  writer  Balzac1  is  not  of  the  '  first  rank/  nor  is  he 
even  of  those  of  whom  it  may  be  said  that  they  receive  from 
heaven  at  their  birth  the  gift  of  *  style.'  .  .  . 

' '  In  attempting  to  be  witty,2  he  often  fails  to  exhibit  good 
taste;  in  like  manner  in  attempting  to  display  '  style,'  he  at 
times  forgets  the  proper  meanings  of  words  and  often  the 
rules  of  grammar,  and  the  very  laws  of  the  French  syn- 
tax." To  the  reproach  of  immorality  in  Balzac's  novels, 
Brunetiere  's  apt  defense  is  this :  ' '  Ought  a  representation  of 
life  be  more  moral  than  life  itself  ?  For  what  reasons,  in  the 
name  of  what  principles?  And  if  it  were  decided  that  it 
ought  to  be,  what  then  would  become  of  that  exactness  of 
reproduction  without  which  there  can  be  no  representation 
of  life?  " 

Balzac  tells  us  that  he  created  about  two  thousand  char- 
acters; in  this,  his  creative  power,  he  has  excelled  even  Dick- 
ens and  Turgenieff.  Some  French  critics  are  inclined  to  regard 
his  portraits  of  women  as  his  happiest  characterizations,  yet 
it  must  be  confessed  that  his  conception  of  woman's  part  in 
the  terrestrial  plan  is  not  flattering,  and  his  women  sink  into 
insignificance  when  compared  with  such  masterly  creations 

1  Honor?  de  Balzac  by  Ferdinand  Brunetiere,  translated  by  Prof.  R.  L. 
Sanderson  (French  Men  of  Letters  series). 

2  "In  the  role  of  a  man  of  wit,"  says  Brunetieire,  elsewhere,  "Balzac  is 
downright  unbearable,  and  even  Victor  Hugo's  humor  is  no  heavier  than 
Balzac's." 

421 


THE    HISTORY   OF   FRENCH   LITERATURE 

as  le  Pere  Goriot,  Vautrin,  de  Rastignac,  le  Pere  Grandet, 
Baron  Hulot,  etc.  (except,  however,  such  a  woman  as  Madame 
Marneffe) . 

Money  was  the  great  aim  of  Balzac's  life,  and  he  was  its 
slave.  This  consuming  ambition  appears  in  his  correspond- 
ence, published  in  1876,  in  two  large  volumes.  The  majority 
of  these  letters  covering  a  period  of  thirty  years,  are 
addressed  to  his  sister  Madame  de  Surville ;  to  an  Alien,  Lettres 
a  VEtrangere  (Eveline  Rzewuska,  Countess  Hanska,  later  his 
wife),  and  to  others.  To  his  sister's  criticism  on  Eugenie 
Grandet,  he  wrote :  ' '  You  tell  me  there  are  too  many  millions 
in  Eugenie  Grandet.  But,  foolish  one,  since  the  story  is  true, 
would  you  have  me  do  better  than  truth  ?  ' "  Balzac  was  cease- 
lessly occupied  with  schemes  to  get  rich  quick.  Having  read 
in  Tacitus  that  the  Romans  had  formerly  exploited  silver 
mines  in  Sardinia,  he  borrowed  a  hundred  thousand  francs, 
and  left  Paris  on  a  prospecting  trip.  During  the  sea  voyage, 
he  communicated  his  idea  to  the  captain  of  the  vessel,  who 
found  it  excellent.  On  his  return  to  Paris  with  specimens  of 
ore  containing  a  large  amount  of  silver,  he  applied  to  the 
government  for  authority  to  exploit  these  mines,  only  to  learn 
that  the  captain  had  anticipated  him,  and  supplanted  him 
entirely.  Then  he  formed  the  project  of  cultivating  pine- 
apples, estimating  that  it  would  yield  him  an  income  of  two 
hundred  thousand  francs ;  but  this  tropical  fruit  does  not  ripen 
in  France.  He  also  planned  to  go  to  Corsica  to  cultivate 
opium.  As  further  evidence  of  his  failure  in  practical  affairs, 
he  insisted  on  being  his  own  architect  for  a  house  he  was 
building  at  Ville-d 'Avray,  but  when  it  was  completed  there 
was  no  staircase. 

Balzac  finally  achieved  wealth,  and  was  able  to  marry  the 
Countess  Hanska,  whom  he  had  loved  for  many  years.  The 
letters  he  wrote  to  her  are  among  the  best  productions  of 
his  pen.  It  is  generally  supposed  to  have  been  a  love  match, 
for  the  countess  made  over  her  fortune  to  her  children  by 
her  first  husband,  but  Brunetiere  speaks  skeptically  of  this 
"  love  "  match.  Balzac  writes  of  the  countess  in  a  letter 
to  his  sister:  "  Napoleon  said  we  pay  for  everything  here 
below ;  nothing  is  stolen.  It  seems  to  me  that  I  have  paid  very 
little.  Twenty-five  years  of  toil  and  struggle  are  nothing  as 

422 


THE    REALISTIC   NOVEL 

the  purchase  money  of  an  attachment  so  splendid,  so  radiant, 
so  complete. ' '  Soon  afterwards  a  disease  of  the  heart  suddenly 
cut  short  his  career  at  the  age  of  forty -nine. 

Taine  declared  this  master  of  the  novel  to  be,  after  Shake- 
speare and  Saint-Simon,  the  greatest  storehouse  of  documents 
on  human  nature  in  existence.  Sainte-Beuve  writes:  "  How- 
ever rapid  and  great  the  success  of  Balzac  in  France,  it  was 
perhaps  still  greater  and  more  undisputed  throughout  Europe. 
The  details  that  might  be  given  in  regard  to  this  would  seem 
fabulous.1  .  .  . 

Prosper  Merimee  (1803-70) — novelist,  historian,  play- 
wright and  scholar — was  a  sober,  precise  writer,  of  a  pure  and 
vigorous  style  which  is,  however,  sometimes  hard  and  dry.  At 
the  time  of  the  struggle  between  the  champions  of  the  classic 
and  the  romantic  schools,  he  espoused  Romanticism,  and  pub- 
lished his  first  work,  the  Theatre  de  Clara  Gazul,  comedienne 
espagnole.  Merimee  represented  Clara  Gazul  as  a  real  person 
— a  Spanish  actress,  persecuted  by  the  clergy  of  her  country, 
and  on  the  point  of  taking  refuge  in  England.  The  air  of 
reality  with  which  he  invested  her  in  this  collection  of  plays 
was  heightened  by  the  biographical  account  he  supplied  in 
the  form  of  a  preface.  Clara  Gazul  was  a  great  success,  and 
everybody  believed  in  the  existence  of  the  actress.  Meri- 
mee was  even  more  successful  in  La  Guzla  —  a  collec- 
tion of  so-called  Illyrian  poems  which  he  said  he  had 
gathered  in  Dalmatia,  and  attributed  to  an  imaginary 
poet,  Hyacinthe  Maglonorvitch,  whose  history  he  duly  set 
forth. 

In  his  Chronique  du  temps  de  Charles  IX  (from  which  the 
opera  of  Les  Huguenots  is  drawn)  he  pictured  life  and  in- 
stitutions during  the  religious  wars.  Among  his  novels  and 
shorter  stories  are  found:  La  Jacquerie,  an  historical  novel 
describing  the  revolts  of  the  French  peasants  against  the 
nobles  in  the  fourteenth  century ;  Matteo  Falcone,  in  which  a 
Corsican  peasant  kills  his  son  because  he  betrayed  a  fugitive 
concealed  in  his  house;  La  Venus  d'llle;  Le  Vase  etrusque; 
L'Enlevement  de  la  redoute;  Carmen,  a  pathetic  and  pic- 

1  The  lives  of  his  heroes  and  heroines  were  emulated,  rooms  were  furnished 
a  la  Balzac,  etc. 

423 


turesque  novel,  upon  which  Meilhac  and  Halevy  drew  for  the 
libretto  of  Bizet's  opera. 

Colombo, — Merimee's  masterpiece — is  a  striking  picture  of 
Corsican  life :  a  story  of  the  revenge  pursued  by  Colomba  the 
heroine,  with  a  bitter  savagery  not  unmixed  with  a  strange 
piety.  Walter  Pater  says:  "  It  showed  intellectual  depth  of 
motive,  firmly  conceived  structure,  faultlessness  of  execution, 
vindicating  the  function  of  the  novel  as  no  tawdry  light  lit- 
erature, but  in  very  deed  a  fine  art."  Merimee's  stories  leave 
a  sad  impression,  but  they  are  considered  perfect  models  of 
narrative  power. 

Merimee  was  the  head  of  a  Department  of  the  Ministry 
for  Foreign  Affairs,  and,  owing  to  his  knowledge  of  archaeol- 
ogy, occupied  the  post  of  inspector  of  historical  monuments. 
During  his  stay  in  Spain  he  was  received  by  Madame  de 
Monti  jo,  mother  of  the  future  Empress  Eugenie;  and  this 
friendship  afterwards  gained  him  admission  to  the  intimate 
circle  at  the  Tuileries.  Much  valuable  •information  respecting 
the  court  life  of  Napoleon  III  is  contained  in  Merimee's 
Lettres  a  une  Inconnue — a  series  of  letters  addressed  to 
Mademoiselle  Jenny  Dacquin  during  a  period  of  thirty  years. 
His  Lettres  a  une  autre  Inconnue,  addressed  to  the  Countess 
Przedrzerska,  cover  a  period  of  three  years. 

Marie-Henri  Beyle  (1783-1842),  who  took  the  pseudonym 
of  Stendhal  from  the  birthplace  of  the  German  scientist 
Winckelmann,  whom  he  greatly  admired,  was  a  writer  of 
great  power  and  originality,  and  exercised  a  marked  in- 
fluence on  the  later  writers  of  the  naturalistic  school.  Zola 
called  him  ' '  the  father  of  us  all  " ;  Balzac  proclaimed  his 
genius ;  Merimee,  incomparably  his  superior  in  style,  was  in  a 
measure  his  pupil;  Bourget's  indebtedness  is  obvious.  Yet 
he  wrote  abominably,  and  it  was  not  till  long  after  his  death 
that  literary  criticism  awoke  to  his  importance.  "  I  will  not 
say  he  writes  badly,"  says  Faguet,  "  but  that  he  does  not 
write  at  all.  He  regards  neither  form  nor  method.  He  drafts, 
he  never  writes.  Nevertheless,  he  is  a  great  novelist." 
Stendhal  himself  has  remarked,  with  more  truth  and  less  pose 
than  his  autobiographical  notes  commonly  reveal,  that  he 
set  about  writing  as  he  would  smoke  a  cigar.  His  indif- 
ference to  literary  style — singular  failing  for  a  Frenchman — 

424 


THE    REALISTIC   NOVEL 

blinded  Victor  Hugo  to  his  merits.  "Is  he  still  alive?  " 
asked  the  author  of  Les  Miser ables.  "  No?  That  is  unfor- 
tunate, because  I  should  have  requested  you  to  tell  him  that 
I  shall  wait  to  read  his  works  until  he  writes  French. ' '  Hugo 
was  not  the  only  one  who  waited,  in  another  sense.  Sten- 
dhal himself  prophesied  in  a  letter  to  Balzac  in  1840  that  his 
books  would  not  be  read  till  about  1880,  and  the  prophecy 
came  to  pass. 

Stendhal,  whose  idol  was  Napoleon,  served  in  the  com- 
missary department  of  the  army  during  the  Napoleonic  cam- 
paigns; he  was  present  at  the  battle  of  Jena,  and  wrote,  as 
an  eyewitness,  a  description  of  the  burning  of  Moscow.  His 
life,  indeed,  was  by  no  means  eventless ;  he  knew  war,  and  he 
suffered  the  emotions  of  love  in  a  series  of  amatory  ex- 
periences which  seem  to  have  yielded  him  more  literary 
"  copy  "  than  contentment.  He  appears  to  have  craved  ex- 
citement with  an  expectation  that  outran  reality.  M.  Rod  tells 
us  that  he  displayed  great  coolness  and  courage  during  his 
first  battle  beneath  the  fort  of  Bard,  and  that  when  the  fight 
was  done  he  asked  himself  in  all  sincerity,  "  Is  this  all?  " 
Subtle  and  artificial,  Stendhal  was  essentially  a  psychologist, 
but  his  analytical  penetration  overlooked  everything  which 
did  not  pertain  to  the  intellect  or  to  passion.  He  loved 
mystery,  so  that  real  facts  concerning  his  character  have  only 
gradually  come  out;  both  the  man  and  his  works  afford  too 
many  complexities  for  brief  exposition.  Stendhal  traveled 
extensively,  and  was  well  acquainted  with  English  literature. 
He  lived  much  of  the  time  in  Paris,  but  his  heart  was  in 
Italy,  where  he  served  as  consul  in  Civita  Vecchia.  It  was 
characteristic  of  him  that  he  wrote  his  own  epitaph,  describ- 
ing himself  as  a  Milanese,  and  caused  it  to  be  engraved  on 
his  tombstone :  ' '  Qui  giace  Arrigo  Beyle,  Milanese.  Scrisse, 
Amo,  Visse."  ("  Here  lies  Henri  Beyle,  Milanese.  He  wrote, 
loved,  lived.") 

Of  Stendhal's  novels,  La  Chartreuse  de  Parme  (immortal- 
ized by  its  description  of  the  battle  of  Waterloo)  and  Le 
Rouge  et  le  Noir  are  generally  regarded  as  his  most  important 
fiction,  and  as  having  paved  the  way  for  the  French  psychol- 
ogists of  our  own  time.  The  Chartreuse  de  Parme,  which,  in- 
Balzac's  opinion,  might  have  been  written  by  Machiavelli  had 

425 


THE   HISTORY   OF   FRENCH   LITERATURE 

he  lived  in  exile  in  the  nineteenth  century,  describes  the  in- 
trigues of  Italian  court  life.  Its  exaggerated  and  sensational 
plot  suggests  the  novel  of  adventure ;  its  merit  lies  in  Stendhal 's 
extraordinary  power  of  analysis.  Le  Rouge  et  le  Noir  indicates 
in  its  title  the  red  trappings  of  the  soldier,  the  black  frock  of 
the  priest.  Stendhal  as  a  youth  was  educated  by  priests, 
whom  he  disliked  and  who  misunderstood  him,  and  in  this 
tale  he  has  ironically  exhibited  the  clergy,  after  the  fall 
of  Napoleon,  as  paramount  to  the  army.  In  the  principal 
character,  Julien  Sorel,  the  author  has  drawn  a  remarkable 
portrait  of  an  ambitious  and  egotistical  man,  of  which  Fer- 
dinand Brunetiere  writes :  ' '  I  should  not  like  to  decide 
which  is  more  to  be  marveled  at,  the  incoherence  of  this 
character  or  the  conceit  of  the  author.  ...  I  will  also  take 
note,  if  you  like,  of  Stendhal's  influence,  but  I  will  also  re- 
mark that  his  influence  was  not  very  deep,  and  that  it  finally 
ended  only  in  an  immoderate  glorification  of  the  author  of 
La  Chartreuse  de  Parme — that  masterpiece  of  pretentious 
tedium — rather  than  in  any  modification  of  the  novel." 

Stendhal's  best  work,  perhaps,  is  his  minutely  analyti- 
cal study,  De  I' Amour,  which  fell  flat  at  the  time  of  publica- 
tion, but  has  come  to  be  recognized  as  unsurpassed  of  its  kind. 
In  his  critical  and  biographical  works  on  music  and  painting 
he  was  an  unblushing  plagiarist.  His  "  lives  "  of  Haydn 
and  Mozart,  published  under  the  pen  name  of  Bombet,  were 
coolly  appropriated  from  Carpani ;  in  writing  his  De  la  pein- 
ture  en  Italie  he  borrowed  freely,  and  without  credit  from 
Lanzi.  But  all  that  he  did  in  this  kind  was  interwoven  with 
his  personality  and  his  art  as  a  raconteur.  He  was  an  ad- 
mirable tourist,  and  his  books  of  travel — including  the 
Promenades  dans  Rome  and  the  Memoir es  d'un  Tourist e — 
are  methodless,  but  highly  agreeable  records  of  an  accom- 
plished dilettante.  Stendhal's  writings  are  not  popular,  but 
at  the  present  time  he  has  become  a  cult  with  an  increasing 
circle  of  admirers.  Prof.  Benjamin  W.  Wells  and  Mr.  James 
Huneker,  in  this  country,  have  gone  far  in  supplying  criti- 
cal estimates  of  his  works  and  analyses  of  his  character ;  while 
in  France  his  performance  and  his  personality  have  variously 
engaged  the  pens  of  Taine,  Zola,  Sainte-Beuve,  Balzac,  Bour- 
get,  and  Edouard  Rod. 

426 


THE   REALISTIC   NOVEL 

If  the  deranged  nervous  system  of  Gustave  Flaubert 
(1821-80)  had  not  belied  a  body  that  bespoke  the  robust 
giant,  he  might  have  been  the  king  of  the  Romanticists;  for 
romantic  he  was  by  inclination  and  equipment.  Instead,  he 
wrote  Madame  Bovary — a  dreary,  sordid  tragedy  of  provincial 
life  in  Normandy.  This  story,  which  the  critic,  J.  J.  "Weiss, 
classed  among  the  "  brutal  literature,"  and  upon  which 
Flaubert  had  spent  six  years,  first  appeared  (1857)  in  the 
Revue  de  Paris,  and  made  such  a  scandal  that  author  and 
publisher  were  haled  into  court  on  a  charge  of  immorality. 
They  were,  however,  acquitted;  people  were  not  long  in  per- 
ceiving that  Flaubert  had  an  ethical,  not  a  prurient,  purpose, 
in  his  exhibits  of  unpleasant  subjects  and  characters,  and  that 
an  author  of  genius,  with  a  marvelous  style,  had  pointed  the 
way  to  a  new  literary  method.  Flaubert,  however,  though 
he  has  been  acclaimed  the  high  priest  of  realism,  does  not 
really  belong  to  the  school  of  disciples  who  afterwards  hailed 
him  as  master.  His  undying  hatred  of  the  bourgeoisie,  his 
revolt  against  the  mediocrity  of  modern  environment,  his 
overpowering  sense  of  futility,  led  him  far  from  the  idols  of 
his  youth — Hugo  and  Chateaubriand.  His  analytic  mind 
warred  with  his  imagination.  The  malady  (epilepsy)  that 
corroded  his  soul,  that  made  his  presentment  of  life,  as  he 
himself  has  confessed,  "  a  smell  escaping  from  the  vent  of  a 
nauseating  kitchen,"  influenced  his  intellect  in  the  selection 
of  material  from  humanity's  great  storehouse.  But  the 
poetic  sentiment  that  linked  him  with  the  Romanticists  was  not 
extinguished;  and  so  he  was  a  realist  and  a  romanticist  by 
turns.  In  one  of  his  romantic  reactions  he  took  refuge  in 
antiquity,  and  wrote  Salammbo.  For  this  he  visited  Tunis, 
dwelt  among  the  ruins  of  Carthage,  ransacked  a  thousand 
books,  and  then  for  six  years  toiled  interminably — building, 
polishing,  recasting  his  sentences,  till  the  ancient  city  and  its 
picturesque  civilization  were  recreated  in  the  glowing  pages 
of  his  fiction.  Salammbo,  sister  of  Hannibal,  is  the  central 
figure;  the  period  is  that  immediately  following  the  first 
Punic  war;  the  story  relates  to  the  uprising  of  the  merce- 
naries against  Rome. 

In  his  L'Education  sentimentale  (1869),  Flaubert  again 
made  provincial  life  the  subject  of  his  satirical  scorn ;  but  this 

427 


THE    HISTORY   OF   FRENCH   LITERATURE 

time  his  literary  skill  did  not  redeem  the  depressing  quali- 
ties of  his  work.  "  To  think,"  remarks  Mr.  Henry  James, 
"  of  the  talent,  the  knowledge,  the  experience,  the  observa- 
tion that  he  buried,  without  hope  of  resurrection,  in  these 
pages,  is  to  pass  a  comfortless  half  hour." 

Flaubert's  great  fantastic  tale,  La  Tentation  de  Saint- 
Antoine,  was  begun  in  1848,  and  finished  in  1874.  Its  mel- 
ancholy view  of  humanity  throughout  the  ages,  conveyed  in 
pictures  of  extraordinary  power,  is  a  document  of  all-em- 
bracing pessimism.  The  same  theme,  with  a  contemporary 
application,  is  worked  out  in  the  uncompleted  Bouvard  et 
Pecuchet,  which  appeared  in  1881.  Trois  conies  (1877)  con- 
tains the  three  novelettes,  Un  c&ur  simple,  La  legende  de 
Saint-Julien  I'Hospitalier,  and  Herodias  —  condensed  ex- 
amples of  Flaubert's  manner  in  which  some  critics  find  the 
most  satisfactory  expression  of  his  powers. 

Flaubert  has  been  called  the  "  writer  of  writers."  His 
works  exercise  a  potent  fascination  for  all  persons  susceptible 
to  the  charm  of  literary  style.  His  passion  for  the  right  word 
— the  one  and  only  word  that  will  express  the  author's 
thought — became  for  him  a  kind  of  religion.  He  spent  hours 
on  a  single  phrase  until  he  had  made  it  perfect  in  expres- 
sion and  harmony,  and  after  he  had  written  it  he  would  read 
it  aloud.  After  visiting  him  on  a  certain  occasion,  Taine 
wrote:  "  He  declaimed  and  shouted  so  this  night  that  his 
mother  could  not  sleep." 

Flaubert  had  no  love  affairs — unless  his  epistolary  rela- 
tions with  the  poetess  Mademoiselle  Louise  Colet,  may  be  con- 
sidered as  such — and  he  remained  a  bachelor.  Aside  from  six 
years  spent  in  Paris,  he  passed  his  life  at  Croisset,  near  Rouen, 
his  birthplace.  He  had  private  means,  and  was  thus  enabled  to 
produce  slowly ;  but  the  last  ten  years  of  his  life,  in  addition 
to  misfortunes  of  friendship  and  the  serious  impairment  of 
his  health,  were  passed  in  comparative  poverty. 

Those  curious  literary  twins,  the  brothers  Goncourt  (Ed- 
mond,  1822-96;  Jules,  1830-70),  afford  a  singular  example 
of  collaboration:  each  took  the  same  subject,  and  elaborated 
it  on  the  same  plan,  and  then  together  they  fused  their  sep- 
arate productions  into  one  work  issued  under  both  their  names. 
The  literary  method  which  they  introduced,  and  applied  to 

428 


THE    REALISTIC   NOVEL 

the  writing  of  history,  as  well  as  fiction,  was  microscopic  in 
observation,  and  infinitely  laborious  and  tortured  in  the 
record.  They  set  themselves  to  interpreting  modern  life  with 
the  most  minute  fidelity,  and  neither  the  clinic  nor  the  gutter 
escaped  the  zeal  of  their  research.  It  was  their  theory  that 
no  thing  or  person  which  they  could  not  themselves  examine 
was  material  proper  to  fiction;  the  characters  which  they 
transferred  to  the  pages  of  a  novel  were  real  persons  whose 
speech,  manners,  and  conduct  they  had  studied  at  close  range. 
In  the  pursuit  of  the  veritable,  Edmond  even  made  innumer- 
able notes  with  the  aid  of  an  opera  glass.  Among  the  novels 
which  they  jointly  produced  were  S&ur  Philomene  (1861), 
descriptive  of  the  hospital  life  of  a  Sister  of  Charity ;  Renee 
Mauperin  (1864),  a  study  of  social  life;  Germinie  Lacerteux 
(1865),  a  characteristic  exposition  of  the  morals  of  a  domestic 
servant  who  had  been  employed  in  the  Goncourt  household; 
Manette  Salomon  (1867),  in  which  is  traced  the  degeneration 
of  an  artist  who  married  a  model;  Madame  Gervaisais  (1869), 
a  study  in  mysticism,  in  the  preparation  of  which  Edmond 
devoured  numerous  works  of  religious  devotion.  These  stories 
are  made  up  of  sketches  or  impressions  of  particular  episodes 
or  incidents  in  the  lives  of  the  characters,  and  contain  bits  of 
vivid  delineation  after  the  manner  of  naturalism.  As  for  the 
style,  it  is  I'ecriture  artiste,  abounding  in  coined  words,  and 
in  devious  turns  and  twists  of  expression — in  short,  it  is  a 
new  kind  of  French.  A  critic  of  that  nation  has  called  their 
novels  romans  particularistes,  and  has/ described  their  mode 
of  expression  as  "  labored,  inverted,  unexpected,  disconcert- 
ing, always  affected  and  seeming  to  strive  to  the  utmost  to 
find  all  possible  ways  how  not  to  be  natural."  (jElie  dramas 
produced  jointly  are  Henriette  Marechal  and  La  Patrie  en 
danger,  protestations  against  romanticism?) 

The  Goncourts  made  a  specialty  of  the  eighteenth  century, 
and  their  art  criticisms  and  historical  studies  are  of  consider- 
able value.  Their  passion  for  patient  research  and  for  docu- 
mentary evidence  is  given  a  brilliant  setting  in  Histoire  de  la 
Societe  fran$aise  pendant  la  Revolution  et  sous  le  Directoire; 
f  La  Revolution  dans  les  moeurs;  Portraits  intimes  du 
XVI 1 1  erne  Siecle;  Les  Mattresses  de  Louis  XV;  La  femme 
au  XVllleme  Siecle;  L'Art  au  XVllleme  Siecle,  which  con- 

429 


THE   HISTORY   OF   FRENCH   LITERATURE 

v 

tains  thirteen  sketches  of  the  principal  painters  and  engravers 

of  the  eighteenth  century.  The  life  of  the  great  painter  Wat- 
teau,  heretofore  almost  unknown,  the  incomparable  Greuze, 
Boucher,  and  Fragonard— ^Me  petit  poete  de  1'art  d 'aimer  du 
temps,  le  Cherubim  de  la  peinture  erotiguej? — are  among 
those  who  have  found  marvelous  interpreters  in  these  brilliant 
chroniclers,  the  de  Goncourts. 

After  Edmond  had  watched  the  lingering  death  of  his 
brother  Jules,  noted  each  symptom  of  mental  decay,  and 
diagnosed  the  disease  as  "  literature,"  he  continued  his 
labors  alone.  f  Between  1878  and  1884  he  produced  the  nov- 
els, La  Fille  Elisa,  Les  Freres  Zemganno,  La  Faustin,  Cherie; 
and  he  lived  to  see  a  fungous  growth  of  the  naturalistic  fiction 
he  had  helped  to  nourish.  From  1887  until  his  death  he  was 
occupied  with  the  nine  volumes  of  Le  Journal  des  Goncourt, 
which  is  packed  with  information — more  or  less  indiscreet — 
concerning  the  lives  of  himself  and  his  literary  contempora- 
ries. Among  those  who  frequented  his  reunions  were  Daudet, 
Zola,  Paul  Margueritte,  Rosny,  and  Loti.  In  order  that  these 
associations  should  not  be  broken  up  he  bequeathed  his  prop- 
erty— including  the  house  at  Auteuil  and  his  valuable  collec- 
tions of  bric-a-brac  and  Japanese  art — to  ten  of  his  friends, 
composing  the  Academic  Goncourt.1  By  the  terms  of  his 
will  each  of  the  ten  was  to  receive  a  life  annuity  of  six  thou- 
sand francs,  to  be  forfeited,  however,  if  he  entered  the  French 
Academy. 

Alphonse  Daudet  (1840-97),  one  of  the  most  engaging 
figures  in  modern  French  literature,  combined  the  imagi- 
nation and  fancy  of  an  idyllic  poet  with  the  faculty  of  ob- 
serving and  recording  modern  life  in  some  of  its  sinister  as- 
pects. The  exuberance  of  the  Provencal  was  tempered  and 
restrained  by  his  Parisian  environment  and  associations;  his 
impressionable  temperament  and  his  keen  perception  of  hu- 
man suffering  were  held  in  check  by  a  sense  of  humor  that, 
in  the  main,  saved  him  from  errors  of  intolerance  and  dis- 
proportion. Zola's  description  of  his  appearance  in  early 

1  Daudet  and  Hennique  were  named  as  presidents.  The  other  eight 
members  were  the  two  Rosny  brothers,  Paul  Margueritte,  J.  K.  Huysmans, 
Gustave  Geoffrey,  Lucien  Descaves,  filemir  Bourges,  Octave  Mirbeau. 

430 


THE    REALISTIC   NOVEL 

youth  well  accords  with  the  mental  pictures  produced  by  a 
perusal  of  his  writings:  "  He  had  the  delicate,  high-strung 
beauty  of  an  Arabian  horse.  His  hair  was  flowing,  his  silky 
beard  divided.  He  had  large  eyes,  a  narrow  nose,  an  am- 
orous mouth — a  countenance  illuminated  with  a  tender  light 
that  lent  it  individuality,  and  a  smile  that  expressed  intellect 
and  the  joy  of  living.  There  was  something  in  him  of  the 
French  urchin  and  something  of  the  Oriental  woman." 

Daudet,  who  was  born  in  Nimes,  in  Southern  France,  was 
thrown  on  his  own  resources,  through  the  failure  of  his 
father,  a  silk  manufacturer.  Leaving  school  at  Lyons  when 
he  was  sixteen,  he  undertook  to  make  his  living  as  an  usher 
at  a  small  college  in  Alais ;  but  such  was  the  drudgery  of  the 
task,  and  so  mean  were  the  conditions  imposed  upon  him, 
that  after  a  year  of  misery  he  fled  to  Paris,  where  his  elder 
brother,  a  journalist,  had  already  preceded  him.  He  reached 
Paris  half  starved,  and  with  but  two  francs  in  his  pocket; 
but  he  was  not  destined  to  great  privations.  His  brother 
succored  him ;  de  Villemessant,  the  editor  of  Le  Figaro,  recog- 
nized his  talent  at  once,  and  made  a  place  for  him ;  and  at  the 
age  of  twenty  he  became  one  of  the  secretaries  of  his  power- 
ful patron,  the  Due  de  Moray,  whom  he  afterwards  lam- 
pooned in  Le  Nabob  (1878).  At  first  he  wrote  poems,  col- 
lected in  book  form,  in  1858,  with  the  title  Amoureuses. 
This  brought  him  some  celebrity,  but  he  did  not  long  pursue 
the  vocation  of  poet.  In  these  first  years  he  essayed  the 
drama,  to  which  he  returned  from  time  to  time — always  with 
indifferent  success;  earned  his  bread  in  journalism;  and  pro- 
duced some  fairy  tales,  including  Le  Roman  du  Chaperon 
rouge.  Then  in  1868-69 — having  secluded  himself  for  a 
time  in  a  ruined  windmill  in  the  country  in  Provence— there 
appeared  two  works  that  made  him  famous.  The  first  of 
these,  Le  Petit  Chose,  was  a  pathetic  leaf  from  his  own  life; 
the  second,  Lettres  de  Mon  Moulin  (Letters  from  my  Wind- 
mill), a  collection  of  tales  and  sketches — idyllic,  realistic, 
humorous,  analytic — that  marked  him  a  master  of  the  conte. 
Daudet  thereafter  wrote  many  short  stories — a  vehicle  in 
which  his  varied  powers  are  seen  in  miniature,  and  in  which 
he  has  not  been  surpassed  by  any  of  his  contemporaries.  With 
the  publication  of  Jack  (1873) — a  poignant  story  of  an  illegit- 

431 


THE    HISTORY    OF   FRENCH   LITERATURE 

imate  child,  that  profoundly  affected  George  Sand — he  real- 
ized that  his  metier  was  the  novel.  A  year  later,  Fromont 
jeune  et  Risler  ame  was  a  popular  success,  and  revealed  him 
as  a  realistic  novelist  of  penetration  and  power.  Les  Rois  en 
Exil  (1879),  the  least  popular  of  his  works,  is  a  satiric  fling 
at  certain  bankrupt  kings  who  had  sought  the  consolations  of 
life  in  Paris.  Numa  Roumestan  (1882)  is  a  wonderful  study 
(in  which  Gambetta  sat  for  the  portrait)  of  the  lights  and 
shades  of  Provencal  character.  In  some  respects  it  is  Daudet 
at  his  best.  In  L'Evangeliste  (1883)  inspired,  it  is  said,  by 
the  visit  to  Paris,  of  the  Salvation  Army,  he  pictured,  in 
pessimistic  strokes,  the  effect  on  a  simple  mind  of  misdirected 
religious  enthusiasm.  Sapho  (1884),  dedicated  "  to  my  sons 
when  they  are  twenty,"  is  a  deterrent  portrait,  delicately 
executed,  of  the  French  courtesan.  Though  L'Immortel 
(1889),  a  bitter,  personal  satire  on  the  French  Academy  and 
its  members,  enjoyed  a  large  sale,  it  is  the  least  happy  of 
Daudet 's  productions.  It  represents  indeed,  in  an  extreme 
degree,  his  most  serious  sin  against  art — his  tendency  in  his 
novels  to  exhibit,  under  a  too  transparent  disguise,  the  weak- 
nesses of  well-known  persons  in  real  life.  It  has  also  been  held 
against  Daudet  that  he  imitated  Dickens  and  Thackeray  rather 
too  closely.  Like  Dickens,  he  possessed  the  power  of  mingling 
tears  with  laughter.  It  may  further  be  remarked  that  the 
sentimentalism  of  Dickens 's  pathos  is  not  that  author's  strong- 
est point;  and  that  those  who  love  to  dwell  on  these  things 
may  find  some  instruction  in  comparing  the  death  of  Little 
Nell  with  Daudet 's  La  Mort  du  Dauphin  in  the  Lettres  de 
mon  Moulin. 

In  Tartarin  de  Tarascon  (1872)  and  its  sequels — Tartarin 
sur  les  Alpes  (1886)  and  Port-Tarascon  (1890) — Daudet  em- 
ployed his  skill  in  satire  and  characterization,  not  in  sounding 
the  depths  of  human  weakness  and  suffering,  but  in  holding 
up  to  joyous  ridicule  the  peculiar  foibles  of  the  Southern 
Frenchman.  As  a  piece  of  sustained  humor,  faithful  to  a 
local  type,  yet  ingrained  with  elements  of  world-wide  truth, 
there  is  nothing  in  modern  French  literature  comparable  to 
Tartarin. 

Daudet 's  literary  style  is  vivacious,  expressive,  and  ap- 
pealing. "  II  touche,  il  plait,  il  charme,  il  possede  ce  don  d'at- 

432 


THE    REALISTIC    NOVEL 

tendrir  qui  est  d'un  si  grand  prix,"  says  Anatole  France.  He 
wrote  at  a  time  when  the  public  demanded  realism,  but  he  did 
not  adhere  very  closely  to  the  tenets  of  Zola  and  his  school, 
with  whom  he  was  connected  more  by  association  than  by 
sympathy.  As  Augustin  Filon  has  remarked:  "  He  bor- 
rowed from  it  all  that  was  good  and  sound ;  he  accepted  real- 
ism as  a  practical  method,  not  as  an  ultimate  result  and  a  con- 
summation. Again,  he  was  prevented  from  the  danger  of 
going  down  too  deep  and  too  low  into  the  unclean  mysteries 
of  modern  humanity,  not  so  much  perhaps  by  moral  delicacy 
as  by  an  artistic  distaste  for  all  that  is  repulsive  and  un- 
seemly." 


CHAPTER    XXIX 

THE   NATURALISTIC   NOVEL 
EMILE  ZOLA 

' '  NATURALISM,  ' '  says  a  distinguished  critic,  ' '  is  still  real- 
ism, but  realism  advertising  scientific  pretensions;  or  rather, 
it  is  an  attempt  to  assimilate  the  proceedings  of  literature 
and  the  proceedings  of  science.  It  is,  therefore,  experimental. 
In  short,  the  naturalistic  novelists  have  been  attentive  ob- 
servers of  modern  life,  but  have  unfortunately  paid  atten- 
tion only  to  its  obscenities." 

The  chief  representative  of  this  school  is  Emile  Zola 
(1840-1902),  whose  so-called  scientific  method — a  libel  on 
the  exact  proceedings  of  true  science — was  especially  directed 
to  expounding  human  motives  and  conduct  with  reference  to 
heredity.  It  is  pretty  generally  agreed  that  he  was  the  vic- 
tim of  his  own  theories — which  he  defined  in  his  Roman  ex- 
perimental and  in  his  Romanciers  naturalistes — and  that  in 
failing  to  demonstrate  them  in  his  own  writings  he  also 
failed  to  obtain  the  lasting  recognition  which  he  might  other- 
wise have  achieved  through  a  happier  employment  of  his 
powers.  These  consist  of  a  prodigious  talent  for  description 
— particularly  in  descriptions  of  the  crowd  in  action,  of  mobs 
and  men  in  battle ;  of  a  gloomy  imagination  that  impelled  him 
to  write  as  a  kind  of  epic  poet  masquerading  as  a  scientific  ob- 
server; of  a  vigor  in  composition,  a  fecund  creative  ability. 
His  sternest  critics  admit  the  effectiveness  of  his  imagery; 
those  whose  stomachs  revolt  at  his  grossness,  his  vulgarity, 
his  deliberate  delight  in  the  nauseous,  his  lugging  in  of  de- 
pravity by  the  heels — point,  nevertheless,  if  somewhat  ironic- 
ally, to  a  novelette,  L'Attaque  du  Moulin,  as  a  little  classic 
among  battle  pieces.  Zola  was  either  congenitally  incapable 
of  seeing  the  true  proportions  by  which  a  balance  is  struck 

434 


THE    NATURALISTIC    NOVEL 

between  the  ugly  and  the  base  and  the  beautiful  and  noble 
in  life,  or  in  his  obsession  by  a  theory  he  willfully  blinded  him- 
self to  the  virtues  and  aspirations  of  humanity.  He  did  not 
even  possess  the  saving  grace  of  that  immature  conception  of 
character  which  sees  people  both  as  wholly  good  and  wholly 
bad — but  saw  them,  for  the  most  part,  as  simply  vicious. 
His  style  is  lacking  in  lightness  of  touch,  and  unrelieved  by 
the  play  of  humor  and  fancy;  ponderous  in  manner,  his  mat- 
ter when  concerned  with  minute  details  is  often  tedious. 

Zola  was  born  in  Paris,  but  spent  his  school  days  in  Aix, 
where  his  father,  a  Venetian  engineer  with  a  Greek  strain, 
was  engaged  in  building  a  canal.  On  returning  to  Paris  he 
suffered  great  privations,  spending  at  times  an  entire  week 
in  bed  because  his  clothing  was  in  pawn.  Finally,  he  ob- 
tained employment  as  a  clerk  in  the  publishing  house  of 
Hachette,  and  devoted  his  leisure  hours  to  writing — his  criti- 
cisms on  art  and  literature,  contributed  to  the  press,  attract- 
ing some  attention.  After  the  appearance  of  Mes  Haines, 
Mon  Salon,  and  Edouard  Manet  (an  appreciation  of  the  im- 
pressionistic painter),  he  produced  a  volume  of  short  stories, 
Conies  a  Ninon  (1864)  that  are  not  inferior  in  literary  value 
to  his  later  and  more  celebrated  work,  together  with  several 
novels,  of  which  Therese  Raquin  (1867)  will  bear  compari- 
son with  some  of  his  most  vivid  creations. 

From  1871  until  1893  Zola  occupied  himself  in  writing  the 
series  of  twenty  novels  on  which  his  reputation  chiefly  rests 
— novels  comprising  a  separate  story  in  each  volume,  but 
linked  by  the  same  purpose,  and  introducing  members  of  the 
same  family  under  the  general  title,  Les  Rougon-Macquart, 
histoire  naturelle  et  sociale  d'une  famille  sous  le  second  Em- 
pire. The  Rougon-Maequart  novels,  in  the  order  of  their  ap- 
pearance, are :  La  Fortune  des  Rougon,  La  Curee,  Le  Venire 
de  Paris,  La  Conquete  de  Plassans,  La  Faute  de  I'Abbe 
Mouret,  Son  Excellence  Eugene  Rougon,  L'Assommoif,  Une 
Page  d' Amour,  Nana.  Pot-Bouille,  Au  Bonheur  des  Dames, 
La  Joie  de  Vivre,  Germinal,  L'(Euvre,  La  Terre,  Le  Reve,  La 
Bete  Humaine,  L' Argent,  La  Debacle,  Le  Docteur  Pascal. 
This  plan — pursued  partly  by  the  methods  of  naturalistic 
observation,  and  also  in  a  great  measure  by  devouring  books 
on  the  subject  in  hand — was  to  demonstrate  scientifically  and 

435 


THE    HISTORY   OF    FRENCH   LITERATURE 

with  reference  to  hereditary  laws  how  a  certain  number  of 
people  of  the  same  origin  would  conduct  themselves  in  dif- 
ferent environments.  With  two  exceptions,  these  novels  are 
repulsive  and  distorted  pictures  of  life,  often  deformed,  even 
their  most  brilliant  passages,  by  coarseness  and  bad  taste. 
'  The  gross  and  repulsive  realism  of  La  Terre,  in  which  the 
I  French  peasants  are  pictured  as  beasts,  disgusted  even  some 
of  the  author's  adherents.  These  peasants  depicted  in  their 
bloody  debauches,  their  ribaldry,  their  brutality,  and  with  an 
absolute  lack  of  moral  sense — that  which  in  man  is  superior 
to  his  nature — are  unnatural  distortions.  Zola  appears  to 
much  better  advantage  in  La  Debacle,  in  which  the  fall  of  the 
Napoleonic  dynasty  and  the  Franco-Prussian  War  are  de- 
scribed with  great  intensity  and  power.  Le  Reve  and  Une 
Page  d' Amour,  in  which  Zola  restrained  his  tendency  to  nas- 
tiness,  scarcely  warrant  the  assumption  that  he  might  have 
attained  great  celebrity  by  eschewing  the  gross  and  sensa- 
tional. It  is  impossible  here  to  treat  in  detail  the  defects  of 
his  method.  But  take  the  one  instance  of  La  Bete  Humaine. 
John  Addington  Symonds,  who  discovered  in  Zola  "  an 
idealist  of  the  purest  water  " — that  is  to  say,  one  who  treated 
reality  from  an  ideal  point  of  view,  has  remarked  that  this 
novel  of  murder  confounded  with  sexual  desire  "  has  all 
those  qualities  of  the  constructive  reason  by  which  an  ideal  is 
distinguished  from  the  bare  reality.  Not  only  does  it  violate 
our  sense  of  probability  in  life  that  ten  persons  should  be 
either  murderers  or  murdered,  or  both  together,  when  all  of 
them  exist  in  close  relations  through  their  common  connec- 
tions with  one  line  of  railway,  but  the  short  space  of  time  re- 
quired for  the  evolution  ofvthis  intricate  drama  of  blood  and 
appetite  is  also  unnatural.'*) 

Zola's  trilogy  of  tfie  cities — Lourdes,  Rome,  Paris — has 
not  enhanced  his  reputation^^while  Fecondite,  Travail,  Verite 
— the  three  novels  of  the  uncompleted  Quatre  Evangiles  (Four 
Gospels) — betray  the  decline  of  his  imagination  and  descrip- 
tive powers.  1  In  1898,  four  years  before  his  death,  he  startled 
France  Tiy  his  daring  and  eloquent  espousal  of  the  cause  of 
Dreyfus — his  famous  letter  in  the  Aurore,  beginning  "  J 'ac- 
cuse "...  leading  to  an  investigation  and  exposure  of  the 
conspiracy  against  the  long-suffering  army  officer. 

436 


THE    NATURALISTIC    NOVEL 

Zola's  novels  have  enjoyed  a  tremendous  vogue,  which 
may  in  part  be  accounted  for  by  their  very  deficiencies  and 
by  the  persistent  and  flamboyant  advertising  which  attended 
their  production  in  France,  where  the  unspeakable  Nana,1  La 
Debacle  and  La  Terre  were  the  most  popular  of  all  his  works ; 
but  L'Assommoir  and  Germinal  are  considered  his  two  mas- 
terpieces. Zola  was  a  tireless  worker,  and  though  his  actual 
daily  output  is  said  to  have  been  but  five  hundred  words,  he 
had  no  idle  days,  but  lived  up  to  the  motto  inscribed  over  the 
hearth  in  his  study  at  Medan :  ' '  Nulla  dies  sine  linea. ' '  He 
repeatedly  sought  admission  to  the  Academy,  but  in  vain. 
After  his  death  France  decreed  the  removal  of  his  remains 
from  the  Pere-Lachaise  to  the  Pantheon,  as  a  recognition  of  his 
service  in  the  cause  of  justice  rather  than  of  his  literary 
merits. 

GUY  DE  MAUPASSANT 

Both  in  his  person  and  in  his  work  Guy  de  Maupassant 
(1850-93)  presents  a  paradox.  Outwardly  a  ruddy  ath- 
lete, a  powerful  oarsman  and  swimmer,  he  was  in  reality  a 
neurasthenic;  in  his  literary  labors  he  found  no  joy,  but 
only,  as  he  has  himself  confessed,  a  refuge  from  the  emptiness 
of  life.  We  are  told  that  he  had  no  powers  of  invention,  no 
theories  of  art,  that  he  was  neither  a  thinker  nor  a  reader — 
even  that  he  had  no  ideas.  "  He  was  born,"  says  Faguet, 
' '  to  see  and  to  paint  that  which  he  saw — and  only  that.  But 
he  saw  it  with  a  fullness  and  a  miraculous  intensity  of  vision, 
and  he  described  it  with  a  breadth  and  at  the  same  time  with 
a  precision  which  enraptured  and  stupefied."  Maupassant, 
in  fact,  as  one  critic  has  expressed  it,  was  great  because  of  his 
very  limitations :  his  fancy  did  not  war  with  his  habit  of  acute 
observation;  he  made  no  excursions  beyond  his  chosen  prov- 
ince of  the  actual;  he  did  not  concern  himself  with  morals; 
his  outlook  was  objective  always.  After  serving  a  literary 
apprenticeship  of  seven  years  (1873-80)  to  Flaubert,  who  was 
his  godfather  and  an  old  friend  of  his  mother,  he  put  forth  a 
volume  of  poems  (Des  Vers)  of  marked  originality.  In  the 

1  One  hundred  and  sixteen  editions  show  its  popularity. 
437 


THE   HISTORY   OF    FRENCH   LITERATURE 

same  year  he  astonished  the  literary  world  with  his  story, 
Boule  de  Suif,  contributed  to  the  Soirees  de  Medan—a,  collec- 
tion of  short  tales  by  Zola,  J.  K.  Huysmans  and  others.  This, 
together  with  the  two  novels,  Une  Vie  (1883) — a  very  painful 
but  convincing  picture  of  an  average  woman's  tragic  life — 
and  Pierre  et  Jean  (1888),  are  among  the  most  remarkable 
of  his  productions.  Maupassant's  fame  rests  principally  on 
his  short  tales,  of  which  he  composed  over  two  hundred. 
Very  many  of  these  are  models  of  concision  and  style. 
Some  of  the  best  of  them,  are  stories  of  the  peasants  of  Nor- 
mandy, where  he  was  born  and  reared;  others  are  far  afield, 
covering  a  wide  range  of  human  emotion  and  experience.  In 
these,  as  in  his  novels,  appears  the  pessimism  that  dominated 
his  attitude  toward  life,  coupled  with  a  licentiousness  in 
choice  of  subject  that  is  redeemed  only  by  an  exquisite  irony 
and  art.  Some  of  his  studies  in  the  emotion  of  fear  express 
the  vague  dread  that  haunted  him  all  his  life.  He  especially 
feared  old  age.  He  feared  also  that  he  might  cease  to  enjoy 
the  sensuous  things  in  life.  The  morbid  and  haunting  fancies 
of  La  Horla  (1887)  disclosed  him  in  the  clutch  of  the  mental 
malady  that  finally  overpowered  him;  aggravated  by  drugs 
and  other  excesses,  his  disease  took  the  form  of  violent  in- 
sanity, and  he  perished  very  miserably.  Among  the  titles  of 
his  sixteen  volumes  of  short  stories  are:  La  Maison  Tellier; 
Mademoiselle  Fifi;  M.  Parent;  Yvette;  La  Petite  Rogue.  His 
play,  Musotte  (1891),  written  in  collaboration  with  J.  Nor- 
mand,  met  with  a  considerable  success. 


J.  K.  HUYSMANS,  MARCEL  PROVOST 

Among  the  talented  young  men  who  rallied  around  Zola 
in  his  soirees  of  Medan *  was  a  pupil  who  surpassed  the  pre- 
ceptor in  living  up  to  the  tenets  of  naturalism.  To  Joris 
Karl  Huysmans  (1848-1907)— born  in  Paris,  but  of  Flemish 
origin — belongs  the  distinction  of  producing  some  of  the 
foulest  works  of  fiction  with  which  the  French  nation  has 
ever  been  afflicted.  His  earlier  novels — Marthe,  Les  Soeurs 

1  Zola's  home  near  Paris. 
438 


THE   NATURALISTIC    NOVEL 

Vatard,  En  menage — are  of  the  slime,  slimy,  and  may  be  dis- 
missed as  such.  After  the  publication  of  Zola's  La  Terre 
Huysmans  developed  a  taste  for  the  occultism  run  mad  that 
became  at  this  time  a  fad  of  the  Parisians,  and  in  his  novel, 
La-Bos  presented  a  repulsive  study  of  Satanism,  in  which  the 
writer,  Durtal,  is  so  disgusted  with  the  world  that  he  turns  to 
the  devil  for  consolation.  It  is  a  phenomenon  of  such  tempera- 
ments that  after  a  time  the  pendulum  swings  the  other  way. 
Huysmans,  self-nauseated,  found  relief  in  mysticism.  He 
entered  a  Trappist  monastery,  and  recorded  his  moral  ex- 
perience, with  no  little  beauty  and  sincerity,  in  the  pages  of 
En  Route  (1895).  In  the  drift  of  the  novel  of  to-day  Huys- 
mans declared  that  he  saw  only  "  anarchy  and  confusion." 
As  a  matter  of  fact,  a  more  wholesome  and  rational  concep- 
tion of  life  and  letters  had  begun  to  make  itself  felt  in  the 
reaction  that  always  takes  place  when  men  grow  weary  of 
wading  in  the  mire. 

Marcel  Prevost  (born  1862),  whose  Zolaesque  tendencies 
became  diverted  under  the  influence  of  Bourget,  has  wavered 
between  an  ethical  purpose  and  the  inclination  to  rest  content 
with  his  searching  and  popular  exposition  of  the  feminine 
heart.  He  is  an  accomplished  writer  of  love  stories,  told  with 
great  delicacy  and  ease  of  style.  Chonchette  (1888)  estab- 
lished his  success,  and  his  Lettres  de  femmes  (1892)  earned 
him  a  reputation  as  one  of  the  wittiest  men  of  his  period. 
Demi-merges  (1894)  enjoyed  a  brief  trans- Atlantic  vogue. 
His  later  novels,  Frederique  and  Lea,  rank  with  the  best  of 
contemporary  fiction,  and  disclose  an  advance  in  nobility  of 
sentiment  and  ideas. 


THE    HISTORY   OF    FRENCH   LITERATURE 

THE    PSYCHOLOGICAL   NOVEL 
BOURGET,  ROD.  MARGUERITTE 

The  narrow  views  of  the  naturalists,  their  exaggerated 
concern  for  externals  and  their  coarseness  of  touch  brought 
about  an  inevitable  reaction  that  expressed  itself  through 
fiction  in  analysis  of  the  mind  and  of  sentiment,  and,  above 
all,  in  the  study  of  moral  problems.  This  movement  began 
about  1885,  when  M.  Brunetiere,  in  an  article  on  the  English 
novelist,  George  Eliot,  introduced  to  the  French  a  realism 
as  exact  as  theirs,  but  informed  with  human  sympathy  and 
a  more  refined  method  of  ethical  inquiry.  At  the  same  time 
the  materialism  and  determinism  of  Taine,  whose  philosophy 
had  been  reflected  in  a  somewhat  distorted  fashion  by  Zola 
and  his  disciples,  gave  way  to  the  cultured  skepticism  and 
dilettanteism  of  Renan,  among  whose  pupils  are  Lemaitre  and 
Anatole  France.  The  Russian  novelists,  too,  were  a  factor  in 
shaping  the  tendencies  of  French  fiction,  which  has  not  in  re- 
cent years  looked  to  any  one  leader  for  its  ideas  and  formulas, 
but  has  followed  various  currents — psychological,  mystical, 
symbolical,  decadent,  and  has  lost  perhaps  in  robustness  and 
conviction  what  it  has  gained  in  idealism. 

In  the  preface  to  his  novel,  Trois  co&urs,  Edouard  Rod 
calls  the  psychological  method  "  Intuitivism."  Its  foremost 
exponent — the  leader  of  the  reaction  against  the  naturalists 
of  fiction — is  Paul  Bourget  (born  1852),  who  derives  both 
from  Renan  and  Taine.  Bourget  has  the  broad  equipment 
supplied  by  travel,  study,  and  recreation,  and  his  gift  of 
subtle  and  acute  analysis  has  contributed  to  make  his  essays 
of  more  importance  than  his  novels.  His  Essais  de  Psycho- 
logie  Contemporaine  (1883),  the  Nouveaux  Essais  (1885) 
and  the  Pastels  d'Hommes  et  de  Femmes  (1890-91),  are 
psychological  presentments  of  literary  men  and  of  lay  types, 
both  masculine  and  feminine,  in  which  the  author  has  been 
described  as  writing  the  history  of  his  own  soul  as  well  as  some 
chapters  of  the  moral  history  of  his  times.  In  some  of  his 
earlier  novels— as  in  Cruelle  Enigme  (1885),  he  betrays  his 
fatalism,  but  in  Le  Disciple  (1889)  and  La  Terre  Promise 

440 


THE   NATURALISTIC   NOVEL 

(1892)  he  indicates  that  such  doctrines  may  lead  one  into 
crime.  Still  later — in  Le  Fantome,  Drames  de  Famille  and 
L'Etape — he  strikes  a  more  human  note  that  is  none  the  less 
psychological  in  its  analysis.  In  his  last  novel  L'Emigre, 
Bourget  advocates  a  return  to  the  church  and  the  throne  as  a 
panacea  for  France's  social  troubles.  His  especial  field  in  fic- 
tion is  the  fashionable  world,  and  he  has  found  a  large  audi- 
ence among  women.  Bourget  was  admitted  to  the  Academy 
in  1894. 

Edouard  Rod  (born  1857)  was  at  first  a  follower  of  Zola, 
but  later  employed  his  talent  for  delicate  analysis  in  the 
treatment  of  moral  ideas  and  questions  of  conscience.  La 
Vie  privee  de  Michel  Teissier,  together  with  its  sequel,  La 
seconde  Vie  de  Michel  Teissier,  represent  his  earlier  manner. 
Of  his  later  work,  L'Inutile  Effort  (1903)  is  one  of  the  most 
touching  novels  of  the  day. 

Paul  Margueritte  (born  1860)  explored  for  a  time  the 
depths  of  naturalism;  but  in  1887  he  abjured  the  teachings 
of  that  school,  and  in  La  Force  des  Choses  (1891)  produced 
a  strong  and  wholesome  work.  Ma  Grande  (1893)  is  a  story 
of  simple  pathos,  relieved  by  effective  humor.  In  1898,  in 
Le  Desastre,  he  turned  his  hand  to  an  historical  study  of  the 
Franco-Prussian  War,  followed  by  a  sequel,  Les  Tronqons  du 
Glaive  (1900),  written  in  collaboration  with  his  brother 
Victor. 

BARRES,  ROSNY,  FABRE,  CLARETIE 

Maurice  Barres  (born  1862)  in  Sous  I'CEil  des  Barbares 
(1888),  Un  Homme  Libre  (1889),  and  Le  Jardin  de  Berenice 
(1890),  began  by  writing  beautifully — if  somewhat  vaguely 
and  unintelligibly — about  himself.  In  these  novels  of  "  le 
culte  du  moi  "  *  he  undertook  to  adapt  to  the  French  under- 
standing the  subversive  ideas  of  the  philosopher  Nietzche. 
Les  Deracines  (1898) — a  protest  against  individualism — ex- 
hibits the  development  of  another  and  a  more  practical 
attitude — "  le  culte  du  pays  natal  "  (the  cult  of  the  father- 
land). This  novel,  together  with  L'Appel  au  Soldat,  belongs 
to  the  series  called  L'Energie  Nationale.  M.  Barres  is  con- 
spicuous among  the  literary  companions  who  stand  for  "  na- 

1  The  cult  of  self. 
441 


THE    HISTORY   OF   FRENCH   LITERATURE 

tional  energy."  He  is  one  of  the  political  "  old  guard  " 
of  Nationalists,  and  we  see  him  in  the  French  Chamber  of 
Deputies  (March,  1908)  vigorously,  but  hopelessly,  opposing 
the  appropriation  of  funds  to  pay  for  the  removal  of  Zola's 
bones  to  the  Pantheon. 

J.  H.  Rosny  (1856-  )  (a  name  that  stands  for  the  com- 
bined work  of  two  brothers)  is  another  deserter  from  the 
doctrines  of  Zola,  and  a  writer  of  uneven  merit  who  has  made 
a  cult  of  science  and  ethics. 

To  go  back  a  little,  we  have  in  Ferdinand  Fabre  (1827- 
98)  the  incomparable  painter  of  priests  and  peasants  of 
the  Cevennes.  Among  his  best  works  are  Mon  Oncle  Celestin, 
Le  Chevrier,  and  L'Abbe  Tigrane. 

Passing  mention  suffices  for  the  work  of  Jules  Renard, 
lately  made  a  member  of  the  Academic  Goncourt;  of  the 
realistic  Willy  (pseudonym  of  Henry  Gauthier-Villars), 
whose  novel,  Claudine  a  I'ecole,  was  a  great  popular  success; 
of  Leon  Daudet  (son  of  Alphonse  Daudet),  who  developed  a 
vein  of  naturalistic  satire  in  Les  Morticoles;  of  the  versatile 
and  proficient  Jules  Claretie,  critic,  historian,  playwright, 
chronicler,  and  especially  a  novelist  of  fecundity  and  no  little 
merit,  whose  twenty-five  works  of  fiction  include  Monsieur  le 
Ministre,  L' Assassin,  and  Les  Ornieres  de  la  Vie. 

With  every  new  tendency  in  literature  there  arises  in 
France  a  "  school."  The  latest  manifestation  of  this  striving 
for  novel  methods  is  the  Ecole  Naturiste,  founded  in  1900  by 
George  de  Bouhelier,  who  regards  the  events  and  expressions 
of  life  and  nature  as  so  many  revelations  of  the  will  of  God. 
Bouhelier,  who  has  many  ardent  disciples,  is  the  author  of 
La  Tragedie  du  Nouveau  Christ,  in  which  Christ  is  depicted 
as  a  modern  man  in  relation  to  modern  circumstances.  Lucie, 
fille  perdue  et  crimimelle  is  regarded  as  his  best  novel. 

THE  NOVEL  OF  THE  PROVINCES 

French  writers,  with  some  few  exceptions,  have  confined 
themselves  to  Paris  and  its  immediate  environment.  Their 
occasional  exploration  of  the  provinces  has  been  chiefly  for 
purposes  of  caricature  and  ridicule.  But  of  recent  years  their 
eyes  have  been  opened  to  a  wealth  of  neglected  beauty  in  town 

442 


THE   NATURALISTIC   NOVEL 

and  country.  Paul  Adam,  in  his  new  book,  La  Morale  de 
Paris,  notes  that,  without  official  sanction,  no  one  had  formerly 
dared  to  approve  a  sonnet  of  Picardy,  a  play  of  Toulouse,  an 
opera  of  Marseilles,  a  Vendean  narrative,  or  a  novel  of 
Beauce.  Now,  Fabre  has  sounded  the  praises  of  the  Cevennes. 
Loti  celebrates  the  loveliness  of  Brittany.  Theuriet  has  taken 
Lorraine  for  his  theme;  so  also  has  Emile  Moselly  (pseudonym 
of  Emile  Chenin),  the  "  Poet  of  the  Moselle,"  whose  novel, 
Terres  Lorraines,  was  recently  awarded  the  Goncourt  prize. 
In  Le  Deuil  du  Clocher,  Joseph  Ageorges  has  described  the 
ancient  province  of  Berry;  Fils  cLe  la  Terre  is  a  Bearnaise 
novel  by  Capdeville;  Pierre  Vernon  pictures  the  customs  of 
Brittany  in  Aux  Creux  des  Sillons.  In  the  peasantry  and 
scenery  of  Anjou,  Rene  Bazin  (recently  elected  to  the 
Academy)  has  found  a  congenial  field  for  the  exercise  of  an 
uncommon  talent.  The  elegance  of  his  style  and  the  elevation 
of  his  ideas  are  displayed  in  La  Terre  qui  meurt,  Les  Oberle, 
and  Le  Ble  qui  leve.  His  latest  novel,  L'lsolee,  which  has 
passed  its  fifty-eighth  edition  in  France,  is  the  story  of  five 
nuns  thrown  upon  the  world  through  the  closing  of  their 
school  by  the  French  law.  Finally — in  La  Che'vre  d'or,  Jean 
des  Figues,  and  Au  Bon  Soleil—ihat  charming  conteur,  Paul 
Arene,  has  given  us  stories  "  perfect  in  form,  and  as  clear 
and  pure  as  a  Provencal  day." 

Of  the  five  thousand  women  writers  of  France,  the  most 
widely  known  is  Gyp,1  the  "gamin  "  of  the  Faubourg  St. 
Germain,  who  has  already  published  about  ninety  volumes  of 
satiric  fiction.  The  "  explosion  of  feminine  sincerity,"  as  a 
French  critic  expresses  it,  and  which  Nietzche  prophesied, 
has  taken  place,  and  Madame  Rachilde  led  the  way.  It  is 
the  expression  of  woman 's  views  of  life,  morality,  and  passion 
from  her  own  standpoint  and  not  as  heretofore,  from  man's; 
thus  Stendhal's  ungallant  criticism  of  women  writers  no 
longer  holds  good :  ' '  Ce  qui  fait  que  les  f emmes,  quand  elles 
se  font  auteurs,  atteignent  rarement  au  sublime,  c'est  que 
jamais  elles  n'osent  etre  f  ranches  qu'a  demi:  etre  f  ranches 
serait  pour  elles  comme  sortir  sans  fichu." 

1  Pen  name  for  Countess  Gabrielle  de  Martel  de  Janville,  a  descendant 
of  Mirabeau. 

443 


CHAPTER   XXX 

RECENT   POETRY1 

LYRIC  poetry,  revived  by  the  Eomanticists,  has  been  in- 
fluenced by  the  various  tendencies  in  literature.  At  first  it 
was  personal,  subjective,  as  true  lyric  poetry  should  be ;  then, 
toward  the  middle  of  the  century,  it  became  "  scientific," 
impersonal.  In  this  transformation  Leconte  de  Lisle  (1820- 
1894)  was  an  important  factor.  In  theory  he  sought  to  be 
impassive  to  his  own  sentiments  and  emotions  as  well  as  to 
those  of  others.  He  aimed  at  precision,  and  his  style  became 
exaggerated,  though  his  verses,  like  Gautier's,  showed  great 
perfection  of  form.  This  studied,  methodic  impeccability, 
reduced  to  a  system  in  the  pursuit  of  art  for  art's  sake,  ex- 
ercised its  sway  over  a  group  of  young  poets  variously  known 
as  the  "  Parnassiens  "  and  as  "  les  impassibles. "  They  took 
the  name  of  Parnassiens  from  the  name  of  their  collection  of 
poems,  published  by  the  editor  under  the  title,  Parnasse 
Contemporain.  The  thirty-four  poets  of  this  school — if  such 
it  can  be  called — acknowledged  as  their  masters,  Baudelaire, 
de  Banville,  Gautier,  and  Leconte  de  Lisle.  They  sacrificed 
everything  to  form — striving  after  a  plastic,  pictorial  beauty 
that  often  charms  the  ear,  but  is  lacking  in  passion  and  ideas, 
and  does  not  reach  the  heart.  Furthermore,  though  they 
rallied  around  Leconte  de  Lisle,  not  one  of  them  resembled 
him,  nor  did  any  two  of  them  resemble  each  other.  The  most 
distinguished  and  best  known  of  the  group  were :  Sully-Prud- 
homme  (1839-1907),  a  poet  of  great  distinction  and  delicacy 
of  sentiments,  who  made  poetry  a  medium  for  philosophy 

1  A  "Salon  of  Poetry"  was  inaugurated  in  1907  to  be  held  in  the  Palaia 
des  Beaux- Arts,  and  to  have  an  annual  spring  gathering,  just  as  the  Salon 
of  Fine  Arts.  At  the  head  of  this  movement  are:  Francois  Coppe'e,  Catulle 
Mendes  (both  dead  since),  and  Edmond  Rostand. 

444 


RECENT  POETRY 

in  sonnet  and  epic;  Paul  Verlaine  (1844-96),  a  mixture  of 
the  sensualist  and  mystic,  in  life  as  in  his  art,  who  rebelled 
against  the  hard  and  fast  rules  of  French  versification,  often 
striking  in  his  musical  effects  the  true  lyric  note — an  echo 
of  Villon,  a  near  cousin  of  Beaudelaire — melodious,  repellant, 
exquisite,  alarming;  the  Cuban,  Jose-Maria  de  Heredia  (born 
1842),  an  artificer  of  finely  wrought  sonnets,  whose  Trophees 
are  considered  the  masterpiece  of  the  Parnassiens;  Anatole 
France,  more  widely  known  as  novelist  and  critic;  Catulle 
Mendes  (1841-1909),  who  has  been  likened  to  Swinburne 
without  Swinburne's  genius;  Frangois  Coppee  (1842-1908), 
Academician,  the  poet  of  the  humble  and  lowly.  These  sev- 
eral poets  emerged  from  the  cenacle  of  the  "  impassibles  "  to 
cultivate  each  his  own  particular  manner. 

The  reaction  against  the  principles  of  the  Parnassiens 
made  itself  felt  about  1880  with  the  appearance  of  the 
Decadents.  "  Je  suis  1'Empire  a  la  fin  de  la  Decadence," 
wrote  Verlaine,  who  with  Mallarme,  were  the  principal  masters 
of  this  poetic  school,  later  called  the  Symbolists.  De  Vigny 
and  Beaudelaire  were  its  precursors  in  France,  but  this 
tendency  of  poetry  was  influenced  to  some  extent  by  German 
Wagnerism  and  the  English  Preraphaelites.1  The  Symbolists 
wished  to  create  a  poetry  more  supple  and  unrestrained  than 
the  old;  and  to  attain  vagueness  and  subtlety  they  held  that 
objects  should  not  be  named,  but  suggested  by  pictures  or 
symbols.  Everything  that  no  one  understands — not  even  the 
poet  himself — is  called  symbolism,  says  a  critic  of  this  eccen- 
tric "  school,"  which  Verlaine  himself  facetiously  termed 
"  Cymbalists."  G.  Vicaire  under  the  pseudonym  of  Flou- 
pette  cleverly  parodied  the  Decadents,  in  Les  deliquescences. 
These  poets  never  touched  the  great  questions  of  the  age.  If 
they  had  an  aim,  it  is  not  apparent;  only  obscurity  emerges 
from  their  misty  theories.  When  you  have  read  their  poems 
you  feel  only  that  nothing  has  been  said.  Verlaine,  in  his 
Art  Poetique,  sets  forth  that  in  the  credo  of  Symbolism  the 
dreams  and  mysteries  of  the  poet's  recorded  thought  should 

1  A  brotherhood  originally  consisting  (1848)  of  J.  E.  Millais,  Holman 
Hunt,  and  Rossetti,  who  advocated  a  closer  study  of  nature,  and  protested 
against  academic  dictum. 

445 


seek  an  affinity  no  longer  with  painting,  but  with  music :  "  De 
la  musique  avant  toute  chose."  The  younger  generation  of 
Symbolists  and  Decadents  have  pushed  this  theory  to  an 
extreme,  until  their  verses  became  an  incredible  jargon.  Very 
few  persons  profess  to  understand  Maeterlinck's  first  work, 
Les  Serres  chaudes—a,  poem  without  rhyme,  rhythm,  or— it 
is  scarcely  necessary  to  add — reason.  Only  the  elect  in  the 
circle  of  Arthur  Rimbaud  have  confessed  to  admiration  for  his 
sonnet  Voyelles,  beginning: 

A  noir,  E  blanc,  I  rouge,  TJ  vert,  0  bleu,  voyelles, 
Je  dirai  quelque  jour  vos  naissances  latentes. 
A,  noir  corset  velu  des  manches  eclatantes 

Qui  bombillent  autour  des  puanteurs  cruelles, 

"  There  is  no  joy  in  this  new  world  "  (of  the  decadents), 
wrote  Lafcadio  Hearn — "  and  scarcely  any  tenderness:  the 
language  is  the  language  of  art,  but  the  spirit  is  of  Holbein 
and  the  Gothic  ages  of  religious  madness."  The  Aphrodite 
and  the  Chansons  de  Bilitis  of  Louys  appear  to  him  as  crimes. 

Among  the  most  important  Symbolists  are  Verlaine,  the 
recognized  head  of  the  school;  de  Regnier;  Jean  Moreas,  a 
Greek ;  two  Americans — Viele-Griffin  and  Merrill ;  and  Maeter- 
linck, a  Fleming,  whose  genius  in  other  vehicles  of  expression 
sets  him  quite  apart  from  the  others.  Jean  Moreas  abandoned 
this  school  to  found  the  ecole  romane  franqaise,  and  counted 
among  his  disciples  Maurice  de  Plessys,  Raymond  de  La 
Talliede,  Ernest  Raynaud.  This  school  repudiated  the  Roman- 
ticists, the  Symbolists  and  the  Parnassiens  and  renewed  the 
Greco-Latin  culture. 

Jean  Richepin  (born  1849),  a  poet  of  pagan  proclivities, 
and  of  a  somewhat  riotously  romantic  imagination,  whose  La 
Chanson  des  Gueux  (1876)  was  deemed  an  outrage  on  public 
morality,  has  become  a  sober  lecturer  to  young  ladies,  and 
lately  was  elected  to  the  seat  in  the  Academy  vacated  by 
Theuriet. 

With  Edmond  Rostand  (born  1864),  whose  title  to  poet 
in  the  highest  sense  is  disputed,  Semain,  who  died  in  1900, 
and  Rodenbach,  ideas  are  no  longer  neglected,  but  are  ad- 
mitted to  an  equal  consideration  with  form  and  harmony. 

French  genius  does  not  lean  to  lyricism.  In  the  first  place, 

446 


the  admirable  clearness  and  precision  of  French  as  a  vehicle 
of  prose  is,  as  Professor  Saintsbury  points  out,  an  obstacle 
to  poetical  utterance.  Its  very  sobriety  and  lucidity  is  "an 
enemy  to  mystery,  to  vagueness,  to  what  may  be  called  the 
twilight  of  sense — all  things  more  or  less  necessary  to  the 
highest  poetry."  Moreover,  in  the  France  of  to-day  the 
drama  and  the  novel  are  the  dominant  expressions  of  litera- 
ture. Another  factor  not  commonly  considered  is  the  neglect 
of  folklore— the  subordination  of  the  human  and  the  homely 
to  what  is  purely  artificial  in  subject  and  treatment.  It  was 
the  peasants  of  Southern  Europe  who  for  centuries  kept 
lyric  poetry  alive;  French  classicism  has  never  cherished  it. 
Malherbe,  followed  by  Boileau,  expelled  the  traditions  of  folk- 
lore from  the  circles  of  the  learned,  and  the  Revolution 
administered  the  final  blow.  In  Germany,  Goethe,  Uhland, 
Heine  found  much  of  their  inspiration  in  these  traditions; 
in  France  it  has  been  otherwise.  We  miss  it  in  the  poems 
of  her  greatest  lyric  singers;  it  is  a  note  that  Hugo,  Musset, 
Lamartine,  did  not  strike.  Too  often  have  the  poets,  like  the 
prose  writers,  of  France  addressed  themselves,  for  the  most 
part,  not  to  the  people,  but  to  the  sophisticated  circle  of 
Parisians,  to  the  cafes-chantants  of  the  capital  and  provinces.1 
The  greatest  modern  singer  of  France — far  superior  to 
the  Parnassiens  and  the  Decadents,  from  the  point  of  view 
of  poetic  sentiment,  not  artistic  style — is  Mistral,  the  Pro- 
venc,al  poet.  Since  the  beautiful  poetry  of  the  troubadours 
spent  itself  and  was  overcome  by  the  devastating  wars  in  the 
South  of  France,  an  attempt  has  been  made  by  the  people  of 


1  Through  the  efforts  of  the  third  Napoleon,  a  collection  of  folklore  was 
assembled  in  manuscript  form,  but  though  still  preserved  in  the  Biblio- 
theque  Nationale  in  Paris,  it  has  never  been  printed.  S^billot  and  Gaudoz, 
however,  have  edited  an  admirable  collection  of  these  traditions,  with 
the  title  La  France  merveilleuse  et  Ugendaire,  and  the  "Mother  Goose" 
stories  of  Perrault  have  been  continued  by  S4billot  in  the  Contes  des 
provinces  de  France.  The  increasing  vogue  for  songs  in  the  caf£s  and 
artistic  cabarets  have  produced  new  genres  in  the  chanson:  the  "scie,"  an 
oft-recurring  refrain,  the  "chanson  £grillarde"  (subtle  and  licentious),  and 
the  "  chanson  rosse,"  a  cynically  realistic  song  disclosing  with  biting  sarcasm 
the  foibles  of  humanity.  Rosse  is  also  used  in  that  sense  to  designate  a 
play,  an  author,  or  a  genre  in  literature. 

447 


Provence  to  restore  the  Provengal  patois  to  the  dignity  of  a 
language  (once  spoken  by  perhaps  one  fourth  of  the  French 
people)  and  to  revive  Provencal  literature.  What  were  for- 
merly the  troubadours  are  to-day  known  as  the  Felibres:  in 
1854,  seven  Provencal  poets,  Roumanille,  Aubanel,  Mistral, 
Brunet,  Mathieu,  Tavan,  and  Giera  met  at  the  Chateau  of 
Fontesgugne  near  Avignon  to  found  a  society  for  the  restora- 
tion and  maintenance  of  the  Provencal  language  (a  branch  of 
the  langue  d'oc)  and  literature.  They  called  themselves  "feli- 
bres, ' '  from  a  word  found  by  Mistral  in  an  old  Provengal  poem 
which  stated  that  the  Virgin  Mary  met  Jesus  "  erne  le  set 
felibre  de  la  lei  "  (among  the  seven  doctors  of  the  law).  Ac- 
cording to  Ducange  "  felibres  "  in  low  Latin  means  "  nurs- 
ling fed  on  milk  ";  by  extension,  as  applied  to  the  Provencal 
poets,  "  nurslings  of  the  Muses."  Their  reunions  are  called 
"  felibriges,"  and  an  annual  commemoration  festival  is  held 
on  St.  Stella's  day  (twenty-first  of  May),  the  date  of  their 
organization.1 

Jasmin  (Jacques  Boe,  1789-1864),  called  le  perruquier 
poete  (the  barber  poet),  continued  that  trade  even  after  he 
had  been  the  recipient  of  two  great  honors:  the  cross  of  the 
Legion  of  Honor,  and  the  title  of  ' '  Prince  of  Poets, ' '  awarded 
by  the  Jeux  Floraux.  His  poems,  Jasmin  collected  under  the 
title  of  Les  Papillotos  (the  Curl-Papers,  with  allusion  to  his 
trade),  and  gave  recitations  of  them  in  the  Gascon  dialect, 
throughout  France.  Everywhere  he  was  enthusiastically  ap- 
plauded, even  in  Paris  at  the  Court,  where  Louis-Philippe 
accorded  him  a  reception.  The  profits  of  his  recitations 
amounted  to  a  million  and  a  half  francs,  all  of  which  Jasmin 
gave  to  charity,  thus  adding  another  cognomen  to  his  name — 
philanthropist.  Lamartime  called  him  the  Homere  sensible 
des  proletaires.  Longfellow  translated  his  poem  L'Ablugo 
de  Castel-Culie*  (L'Aveugle  de  Castel-Culie) , 

1  In  1876  this  was  subdivided  into  maintenances  placed  under  the  au- 
thority of  a  consistory  of  fifty  members  whose  shield  bears  a  golden  locust. 

2  " The  Blind  Girl  of  Castel  CuilleV'     Longfellow  writes: 

Only  the  Lowland  tongue  of  Scotland  might 
Rehearse  this  little  tragedy  aright; 
Let  me  attempt  it  with  an  English  quill, 
And  take,  O  Reader,  for  the  deed  the  will. 

448 


RECENT  POETRY 

In  1852,  the  Academic  Franchise,  awarded  to  Jasmin  the  prix 
extraordinaire  for  his  Provencal  poems. 

The  most  celebrated  of  the  felibres  is  Frederic  Mistral 
(born  1830).  His  works  are  Mireio  (in  French  Mireille), 
a  beautiful  epic  in  which  he  revives,  with  many  picturesque 
episodes,  the  popular  traditions  of  Provence;  Les  isclo  d'or 
(in  French  Les  iles  d'or),  a  collection  of  poems  published  in 
1871;  together  with  Lous  Tresor  dou  Felibrige  (in  French, 
Le  Tresor  du  Felibrige),  and  a  Provencal-French  dictionary. 
Felix  Gras  (1841-1901)  was  the  most  brilliant  of  the  second 
generation  of  felibres.1  After  Mistral  and  Roumanille,  he 
was  proclaimed  the  chief  of  the  felibrige.  Though  seventy- 
nine  years  of  age,  Mistral,  who  refused  to  accept  a  seat  in 
the  French  Academy,  is  still  active  in  literary  work,  and  re- 
cently shared  the  Nobel  prize  with  Echegaray  and  Sienkiewicz, 
the  funds  of  which  he  contributed  to  the  establishment  of  a 
museum  at  Aries.  This  contains  a  costly  collection  of  P^o- 
vengal  costumes  and  general  productions  typical  of  the  sunny 
Provengal  country,2  and  was  opened  by  Mistral  during  the 
festival  inaugurated  May  1909  in  his  honor,  at  Aries.  The 
unveiling  of  his  statue  erected  by  his  compatriots,  and  the 
fiftieth  anniversary  of  the  appearance  of  his  famous  poem 
Mireio,  were  the  occasions  for  the  celebration. 

In  the  northern  part  of  France,  a  branch  of  the  langue 
d'oil — the  Walloon  language — also  aspires  to  its  own  language 
and  literature.  The  "  Societe  Liegeoise  de  Litterature  Wal- 
lonne,"  founded  in  1856,  has  largely  contributed  to  the  con- 
tinued use  of  the  Walloon  in  parts  of  Northern  France, 
Belgium,  and  Rhenish  Prussia. 

1  An   Irishman,    William   Bonaparte   Wyse,    acquired    the   Provencal 
language  and  published  a  collection  of  poems  li  Parpaioun  blu  (les  Papittons 
bleus,  The  blue  Butterflies). 

2  From  Provence  came  the  inspiration  of  the  Minnesingers — German 
lyric  poets  of  the  twelfth  and  thirteenth  centuries — who  sang  chiefly  of 
love,  and  were  succeeded  by  the  Meistersingers. 


30 


\ 


CHAPTER   XXXI 

PHILOSOPHERS 

THE  philosophy  of  the  first  part  of  the  nineteenth  century 
was  Christian  and  spiritual — in  direct  contrast  to  that  of  the 
eighteenth  century,  which  was  atheistic  and  materialistic.  Two 
schools  contributed  to  this  change :  ' '  1  'ecole  catholique, ' '  whose 
leaders  were  Joseph  de  Maistre,  Lamennais,  de  Bonald,  and 
Ballanche;  and  "  1 'ecole  eclectique,"  with  Victor  Cousin, 
Royer-Collard,  and  Jouffroy  at  the  head.  Joseph,  Count  de 
Maistre  (1754-1821),  in  his  most  popular  work,  the  Soirees  de 
St.  Petersburg,  exploited  the  theories  of  theocracy  and  ab- 
solute monarchy.  This  book  (written,  as  were  his  others,  in 
the  early  years  of  the  century,  at  St.  Petersburg,  where  he 
served  as  minister  for  the  King  of  Sardinia)  is  composed  of 
eleven  imaginary  conversations,  in  which  the  increasing  de- 
pravity of  mankind  is  set  forth  in  dismal  hues — the  interloc- 
utors being  three  Catholics :  a  Russian  senator  with  a  leaning 
to  mysticism,  a  French  emigre  and  man  of  the  world,  and  the 
Count  de  Maistre  himself.  The  idea  of  expiation,  which 
dominates  all  his  works,  is  developed  in  his  Considerations  sur 
la  France — one  of  the  most  profound  historic  philosophical 
treatises  of  the  nineteenth  century.  His  Du  Pape  presents 
an  apology  for  the  spiritual  and  temporal  power  of  the  Pope 
as  a  protection  against  the  oppression  of  their  sovereigns. 
The  Count  de  Maistre  was  not  only  a  great  thinker,  but  a 
writer  gifted  with  extraordinary  literary  ability.  He  suf- 
fered many  reverses  and  disappointments,  but  he  never  ceased 
to  call  France  the  most  beautiful  kingdom  after  Heaven. 

The  Abbe  de  La  Mennais,  known  as  Lamennais,  (1782- 
1854)  experienced  the  most  stirring  developments  in  his  relig- 
ious, philosophical,  and  political  views.  In  his  first  work, 
Essai  sur  I' indifference  en  matter e  de  religion  (1817),  his  opin- 

450 


PHILOSOPHERS 

ions  on  absolutism  and  Papal  supremacy  coincided  with  those 
of  de  Maistre.  He  attacked  atheists,  deists,  and  Protestants, 
with  energetic  eloquence — even  refusing  to  class  the  Protes- 
tants as  Christians;  and  declared  that  in  the  infallibility  of 
the  Pope  lay  the  only  escape  from  anarchy.  The  book  caused 
an  immense  sensation,  and  Lamennais  was  hailed  as  a  second 
Bossuet.  In  reality,  the  germ  of  skepticism  and  revolt  lurked 
behind  his  argument  of  "  the  universal  consent,"  and  not 
reason,  nor  the  senses,  as  the  criterion  of  ecclesiastical  author- 
ity. Pretty  soon  he  found  himself  in  the  ranks  of  the  Liberals; 
and  in  his  articles  in  the  Avenir  (to  which  Lacordaire,  who 
carried  romanticism  into  the  pulpit,  and  Montalembert,  con- 
tributed in  the  same  spirit),  he  met  with  Rome's  disapproval. 
A  complete  revolution  took  place  in  his  religious  views,  ex- 
pressed in  the  Affaires  de  Rome,  and  in  the  poetical-biblical 
Paroles  d'un  croyant,  in  which  he  broke  completely  with  the 
Papacy.  In  his  Livre  du  Peuple  he  proclaimed  the  funda- 
mental principles  of  social  democracy.  It  is  interesting  to 
note  how  the  literary  style  of  Lamennais — ardent,  exuberant 
at  all  times,  changes  with  his  change  of  faith.  Its  brilliance 
and  beauty  in  his  earlier  works  becomes  clouded  and  dis- 
organized in  the  productions  following  his  apostasy,  and  satu- 
rated with  bitterness  and  the  spirit  of  rebellion. 

Louis  Gabriel  Ambroise,  Vicomte  de  Bonald  (1754-1840), 
an  ardent  defender  of  orthodox  religion  and  monarchy,  was 
instrumental  in  modifying  the  law  of  divorce.  His  chief 
work  is  the  Legislation  primitive.  Bonald  defined  man  as  an 
intellect  supplied  with  organs.  Pierre  Simon  Ballanche 
(1776-1847),  author  of  the  Essai  sur  les  institutions  sociales 
and  other  works,  was  one  of  the  wits  of  Madame  Recamier's 
salon,  at  1 'Abbaye-aux-Bois.  He  believed  in  the  expiation  of 
original  sin  through  suffering  and  remorse,  and  that  in  the 
eventual  rehabilitation  of  the  world  man  would  enjoy  a  per- 
fect life. 

Victor  Cousin  (1792-1867),  proclaimed  by  one  of  his 
adversaries,  Mgr.  Maret,  as  the  greatest  philosopher  of 
modern  times,  was  the  son  of  a  watchmaker  and  a  laundress. 
He  became  a  member  of  the  royal  council  of  public  instruc- 
tion, reorganized  the  national  system  of  primary  studies,  was 
elected  to  the  French  Academy  in  1830,  and  two  years  later, 

451 


THE    HISTORY   OF   FRENCH   LITERATURE 

at  the  age  of  forty,  was  made  a  Peer  of  France.  Cousin  as  a 
philosopher  drew  his  inspiration  from  the  Scotchmen,  Dugald 
Stewart  and  Thomas  Reid,  and  fortified  it  by  a  study  of 
Kant,  Fichte,  and  particularly  Hegel — making  two  visits  to 
Germany  for  this  purpose.  His  theory  of  eclecticism  is  some- 
what in  disfavor  to-day;  but  his  introduction  of  the  German 
philosophers  through  the  medium  of  his  own  eloquent  style 
had  an  important  influence  on  the  French  philosophy  of  his 
times.  As  professor  in  the  Sorbonne,  his  lectures  aroused  the 
greatest  enthusiasm.  These  were  afterwards  published  under 
the  title,  Sur  le  fondement  des  idees  absolues  du  vrai,  du 
beau  et  du  bien.  This  book  contains  a  kind  of  condensation 
of  his  doctrines,  and  has  become  a  classic  for  the  beauty  of 
its  style  and  thought.  Briefly,  his  philosophy  was  deduced 
from  what  he  held  to  be  the  partial  truths  embodied  in  the 
four  systems  of  materialism,  spiritualism,  skepticism,  and 
mysticism.  The  student  of  literature  will  be  more  interested 
in  his  stimulating  Biographies  of  seventeenth-century  per- 
sonages, written  as  a  recreation  when  he  had  passed  the  age 
of  sixty.  His  passionate  regard  for  one  of  his  subjects, 
though  no  longer  in  the  flesh — the  lovely  Duchesse  de  Longue- 
ville — has  been  the  occasion  for  some  chaffing  on  the  part  of 
his  literary  contemporaries. 

Pierre  Paul  Royer-Collard  (1763-1845)  was  the  chief  of 
the  doctrinaires,  among  whom  are  numbered  Guizot,  Cousin, 
and  Jouffroy. 

Auguste  Comte  (1798-1856),  the  founder  of  Positivism, 
indicated  his  purpose  in  the  motto:  Reorganiser,  sans  Dieu 
ni  roi,  par  le  culte  systematique  de  I'humanite.  His  Cours 
de  philosophie  positive,  which  contains  a  very  lucid  exposition 
of  his  system,  is  one  of  the  principal  philosophical  works  of 
the  nineteenth  century;  his  influence,  unlike  that  of  his  con- 
temporaries, persists  to  the  present  day.  When  Comte  created 
positive  philosophy  (in  which  phenomena,  observed  and 
classified,  replace  theological  and  metaphysical  speculation), 
Emile  Littre  (1801-81)  was  one  of  his  most  zealous  dis- 
ciples; but  when  Comte  took  to  mysticism  Littre  rebelled,  and 
eventually  succeeded  him  as  the  head  of  the  positivist  school. 

Here  we  may  speak  of  Joseph  Joubert  (1754-1824),  who 
belongs  more  properly  to  literature  than  do  some  of  the 

452 


PHILOSOPHERS 

writers  just  enumerated.  The  underlying  thought  of  his  Pen- 
sees — when  those  thoughts  are  concerned  with  ethics — is  that 
nothing  in  the  moral  world  is  lost,  just  as  in  the  material 
world  nothing  is  actually  destroyed.  Joubert's  "  Thoughts  " 
take  a  very  wide  range.  All  his  studious,  contemplative  life 
was  devoted  to  compressing  his  reflections  on  literature, 
morals,  affairs,  into  the  nutshells  of  his  polished  and  incisive 
paragraphs.  They  are  essays  in  miniature — keen,  clear, 
judicious — in  which  the  critical  faculty  is  very  highly  de- 
veloped, and  the  talent  for  compression  perhaps  unexampled. 

Joseph  Ernest  Renan  (1823-92) — acknowledged  chief  of 
the  school  of  critical  philosophy  in  France — has,  because  of 
his  profound  knowledge,  been  compared  to  Montaigne;  like 
Montaigne,  his  exhaustive  researches  in  the  field  of  thought 
led  him  to  the  same  conclusion:  "  What  do  I  know?  "  Edu- 
cated by  priests,  and,  for  a  time,  entertaining  some  notion 
of  entering  the  priesthood,  his  inquiring  and  scientific  spirit 
soon  led  him  beyond  the  pale  of  orthodox  religion.  He  re- 
mained, however,  as  Anatole  France  has  phrased  it,  in  posses- 
sion of  a  faith  that  did  not  possess  him.  Lacking  convictions, 
he  was  swayed  by  sentiment;  he  could  not  escape  the 
memories  and  impressions  of  his  early  training.  As  he  him- 
self says  in  the  delightful  Souvenirs  d'Enfance  et  de  Jeunesse 
(one  of  the  permanent  contributions  to  French  literature), 
these  memories  of  his  youth  came  back  to  him  like  the  bells 
of  a  lost  city  rung  under  water. 

Renan 's  scholarship  and  broad  literary  sympathies  were 
united  to  a  charm  and  warmth  of  style  that  is  not  only  agree- 
able to  the  critical  intelligence,  but  to  popular  taste  as  well. 
The  Vie  de  Jesus,  written  after  a  visit  to  Syria,  contains 
passages  representative  of  the  unorthodox  views  that  cost 
him  the  chair  of  Hebrew  in  the  College  de  France;  but  its 
circulation  was  enormous,  and  was  the  foundation  of  his 
popularity.  This  work  was  the  first  in  a  series  of  seven  (1863- 
1881),  with  the  general  title,  Histoire  des  Origines  du  Chris- 
tianisme,  the  other  separate  titles  being:  Les  Apotres;  L'An- 
teclirist;  St.  Paul  et  sa  Mission;  Les  Evangiles  et  la  seconde 
generation  chretienne;  L'Eglise  chretienne;  Marc-Aurele. 
These  were  followed  (1888-94)  by  what  is  really  the  intro- 
duction to  the  series — the  five  volumes  of  the  Histoire  du 

453 


THE    HISTORY   OF    FRENCH   LITERATURE 

peuple  d' Israel.  In  the  interval,  his  fancy,  philosophy  and 
satire  found  an  outlet  in  the  less  worthy  dramatic  composi- 
tions collected  under  the  title  of  Drames  Philosophiques,  and 
embracing  Caliban,  L'Eau  de  Jouvence,  L'Abbesse  de  Jouarre, 
Le  Pretre  de  Nemi. 

In  an  admirable  sketch  of  M.  Renan  by  the  late  Theodore 
Child,1  we  are  told  that  Renanism,  among  other  things,  stands 
for  ' '  a  refined  skepticism  so  delicately  developed  that  it  trans- 
forms itself  into  an  instrument  of  pleasure.  .  .  .  The  basis 
of  dilettanteism  is  the  doctrine  of  the  legitimacy  of  many 
points  of  view;  or,  in  other  words,  the  consciousness  that 
phenomena  are  too  numerous  to  allow  us  to  make  absolute 
and  exclusive  affirmations,  at  least  with  our  present  intel- 
lectual apparatus.  .  .  .  Great  and  exquisite  as  may  be  the 
joys  procured  by  dilettanteism,  they  are  of  a  noncreative 
and  unvisible  kind.  .  .  .  We  should  be  tempted  to  call  atten- 
tion to  the  harmony  of  M.  Renan 's  physical  and  intellectual 
personality,  and  to  compare  that  great  shapeless  body  to 
some  huge  polyp  or  anemone,  floating  helplessly  in  the  sea 
of  probabilities,  rising  or  sinking,  inclining  to  the  right  or 
to  the  left,  as  instinct  or  a  ray  of  sunlight  or  the  hazards  of 
a  current  may  inspire;  but  in  any  case  merely  floating,  and 
otherwise  incapable  of  choosing  a  direction  or  following  it." 

Renan  found  much  to  amuse  him  in  the  human  comedy; 
but  Taine — his  moral  and  temperamental  antithesis — was 
horrified  and  saddened  by  it.  Renan 's  optimism  was  the 
product  of  his  physical  nature,  of  sentiment,  of  a  skepticism 
tolerant  and  easy-going;  Taine 's  pessimism  arose  from  the 
operations  of  an  intellect  absorbed  in  scientific  classification 
and  committed  to  a  system  from  which  the  emotions  are  rig- 
idly excluded.  With  a  passion  for  formula  and  abstraction, 
and  a  mind  committed  to  materialistic  doctrines,  he  sought 
to  explain  all  the  productions  of  literature  and  art  with  ref- 
erence to  "  the  race,  the  environment,  and  the  moment." 
From  a  nation 's  climate,  food,  period  of  production,  he  would 
undertake  to  deduce  its  poetry  and  its  paintings.  His  famous 
formula,  that  "  virtue  and  vice  are  products,  like  sugar  and 
vitriol,"  so  shocked  the  Academy  (in  1863)  that  he  was  not 

1  Harper's  Magazine,  August,  1892. 
454 


PHILOSOPHERS 

admitted  to  membership  in  that  body  until  1878.  In  philos- 
ophy and  criticism  he  was  the  representative  of  his  period, 
applying  to  these  the  same  general  principles  of  minute  fi- 
delity that  Flaubert  employed  in  the  novel,  Meissonier  in 
painting,  and  the  Parnassiens  in  poetry.  But  though  he 
inspired  the  naturalistic  school  of  novel  writers,  it  is  too  much 
to  say  that  their  sins  are  on  his  head.  Indeed,  one  of  his 
most  valorous  champions  was  M.  Brunetiere,  who,  having 
no  love  for  Zola,  perceived  in  Taine's  determinist  doctrines 
merely  the  unbiased,  objective  attitude  of  the  naturalist  who 
excludes,  for  intellectual  purposes,  every  esthetic  or  moral 
consideration.  Taine's  honor  and  glory,  according  to  this 
distinguished  critic,  of  Catholic  faith,  rest  in  this:  that  he 
"  renewed  the  methods  of  criticism,"  and  helped  to  escort 
literature  from  the  nebulous  regions  of  exaggerated  Romanti- 
cism to  the  solid  ground  of  reality.  Taine's  supreme  test  in 
estimating  the  value  of  a  work  was  the  "  degree  of  benefi- 
cence of  its  character."  Not  Victor  Cousin  himself,  re- 
marks M.  Brunetiere,  has  said  as  much.  "  They  simply  ar- 
rived at  analogous  conclusions  by  wholly  different  roads." 

To  the  American  reader,  Hippolyte  Taine  (1828-93)  is 
perhaps  the  best  known  of  all  the  modern  French  critics  and 
philosophers.  His  Histoire  de  la  litterature  anglaise  (1865), 
admirably  translated  by  Van  Laun,  has  been  vigorously  at- 
tacked because  of  its  generalizations,  and  because  it  is  only 
nominally  a  history.  On  the  other  hand  it  has  been,  and 
will  long  continue  to  be,  a  vade  mecum  for  innumerable  read- 
ers, young  and  old,  who  delight  in  an  author  never  dull  yet 
never  sensational,  learned  yet  always  clear,  whose  opinions 
are  never  ex-cathedra,  who  is  brilliant  without  pedantry,  and 
forceful  without  dogmatism. 

Among  the  other  principal  productions  of  his  immensely 
active  and  vigorous  life  are:  Les  Philosophes  classiques  du 
XIXme  Siecle  en  France  (1856)  ;  Notes  sur  Paris,  ou  Vie  et 
Opinions  de  Thomas  Graindorge  (1857)  a  charming  book — 
a  humoristic  and  satirical  criticism  of  Parisian  society; 
Notes  sur  I'Angleterre  (1872) ;  and  De  I'Intelligence,  his  prin- 
cipal philosophical  work.  His  several  works  on  the  Philoso- 
phic de  I' Art  f  are  the  product  of  his  celebrated  course  of  lec- 
tures at  the  Ecole  des  Beaux- Arts. 

455 


THE    HISTORY   OF    FRENCH   LITERATURE 

The  war  of  1870  transformed  the  philosopher  into  an 
historian,  and  henceforth  Taine  determined  with  patriotic 
fervor  to  uproot  the  causes  of  France's  defeat,  which  gave 
rise  to  his  most  important  work  Origines  de  la  France  contem- 
poraine  (1875-90),  comprising  L'Ancien  Regime,  La  Revo- 
lution and  the  unfinished  Le  Regime  Moderne.  In  this  work 
Taine  points  out  that  the  French  Revolution  was  a  misfortune 
for  France  and  severely  criticises  the  Jacobin  and  Napoleon 
regimes.  He  also  derogates  the  motto  of  the  French  Repub- 
lic: Liberte,  Egalite,  Fraternite. 

Taine  learned  English  as  a  boy  from  an  uncle  who  had 
lived  in  America.  When  he  was  fourteen  he  devised  a  scheme 
of  study,  to  which  he  rigorously  adhered  and  afterwards  ap- 
plied with  all  the  power  of  his  brilliant  mind.  M.  Vacherot, 
director  of  studies  at  the  Ecole  Normale,  predicted  that  he 
would  be  a  savant — that,  like  Spinoza,  he  would  "  live  in 
order  to  think."  Taine,  indeed,  was  "  an  intellect."  His 
one  recreation  appears  to  have  been  music;  but  his  devotion 
to  that  art  can  hardly  be  said  to  have  been  emotional.  It  is 
altogether  characteristic  of  him  that  in  praising  a  sonata  by 
Beethoven  he  remarked,  with  well-restrained  rapture:  "  It's 
as  beautiful  as  a  syllogism." 


CHAPTER    XXXII 

HISTORIANS 

ONE  of  the  greatest  achievements  of  the  nineteenth  cen- 
tury in  France  was  the  impulse  to  historical  study,  and  its 
consequent  evolution  first  as  romantic  literature  and,  later, 
as  a  critical  science.  The  treatment  of  history  as  a  science 
was  quite  unknown  at  the  outset  of  the  century;  history,  in 
fact,  even  in  its  general  aspects,  was  scarcely  comprehended 
at  all.  The  Greeks  and  Romans  were  known  chiefly  in  re- 
lation to  classical  literature;  the  people  of  the  Orient  were 
little  more  than  a  myth;  even  the  history  of  France  was  im- 
perfectly studied  and  understood. 

The  awakening  began  with  the  romantic  interest  of  Cha- 
teaubriand's Etudes  sur  la  chute  de  I' Empire  romain  and  his 
Analyse  raisonnee  de  I'Histoire  de  France;  and  with  the  popu- 
larity of  Sir  Walter  Scott's  historical  novels.  Nowadays  we 
do  not  go  to  fiction  for  our  history;  we  are  warned  even  to 
accept  with  caution  such  sugar-coated  facts  as  the  novelist 
provides.  But  at  the  time  of  which  we  speak,  romance,  as 
the  great  Scotchman  purveyed  it,  was  hailed  as  the  hand- 
maiden of  true  history.  Indeed,  Villemain — the  master  critic 
of  his  school — told  his  Sorbonne  audience  (enamored  of 
Sir  Walter)  that  history  was  less  true  than  the  historical 
novel.  Which  may  be  taken  as  in  some  sort  supplementary 
to  the  epigram  attributed  to  Napoleon — that  "  history  is  fic- 
tion agreed  upon." 

With  Ivanhoe  and  Les  Martyrs  as  a  leaven,  we  see  also,  in 
the  years  of  the  Restoration,  the  ferment  of  intelligence  work- 
ing in  the  wars  along  with  imagination  to  evoke  a  lesson  no 
less  than  a  pageant  from  the  chronicles  of  the  past — scholar- 
ship was  admitted  to  new  privileges — rubbing  elbows  with 
men  of  affairs,  and  burrowing  in  the  archives  of  the  state, 
hitherto  closed  to  the  people. 

457 


THE   HISTORY   OF   FRENCH   LITERATURE 

This  passion  for  historical  reconstruction  produced  three 
schools  of  historians:  the  narrative  school — devoted  to  accu- 
racy of  narration  and  local  detail — of  which  de  Barante,  with 
his  Histoire  des  dues  de  Bourgogne,  is  the  conspicuous  repre- 
sentative; the  philosophical  school  of  Thierry,  de  Sismondi, 
Guizot,  who  endeavored  to  establish  the  connection  of  cause 
and  effect  in  historical  events;  and  the  fatalistic  school,  of 
which  Thiers  and  Mignet  were  the  chiefs.  This  somewhat 
arbitrary  classification  does  not  include  Michelet — the  most 
remarkable  historian  of  them  all  considered  with  relation  to 
literature — a  man  whose  glowing  imagination  and  extraor- 
dinary style  set  him  apart  from  and  above  the  more  sober  and 
scientific  chroniclers  of  the  past. 

The  real  founders  of  the  new  historical  school  were 
Thierry  and  Guizot — the  first  historians  who  laid  stress  on 
the  social  and  political  development  of  the  people,  instead 
of  centering  attention  on  the  royal  families  and  the  dynastic 
wars.  We  observe  the  application  of  this  new  method — made 
possible  by  the  Revolution — in  the  Lettres  sur  I'histoire  de 
France  of  Augustin  Thierry  (1795-1856).  Thierry  himself 
has  told  us  the  impression  made  on  his  boyish  imagination 
by  a  page  of  Chateaubriand's  Martyrs.  In  his  enthusiasm  he 
arose,  chanting  the  song:  Pharamond!  Pharamond!  nous 
avo-ns  combattu  avec  I'epee — and  marching  to  its  rhythm. 
From  that  moment  he  was  determined  to  be  an  historian. 
Thierry's  style  in  the  Histoire  de  la  Conquete  de  I'Angleterre 
par  les  Normands  is  almost  dramatic;  by  the  vividness  of 
his  descriptive  powers  he  makes  the  dead  past  live  again.  Yet 
the  scientific  nature  of  his  work  is  one  of  its  greatest  merits; 
it  is,  first  of  all,  based  on  the  patient  and  scholarly  examina- 
tion of  chronicles  and  ancient  documents.  He  was  a  breaker 
of  new  ground,  and  his  ceaseless  researches  and  study  of  old 
manuscripts  so  affected  his  eyesight  that  he  became  totally 
blind.  To  this  affliction  he  resigned  himself  without  a  mur- 
mur, saying,  J'ai  fait  amitie  avec  les  tenebres  (I  made  a  friend 
of  darkness).  Nor  did  it  curtail  his  labors.  Such  men  as 
Paul-Louis  Courier,  Carrel,  Beranger,  lent  him  their  assist- 
ance ;  the  young  woman  he  married  became  his  devoted  secre- 
tary— reading  aloud  to  him,  sometimes  for  fifteen  hours  a 
day.  Thus,  with  his  epic  imagination,  he  was  able  to  produce 

458 


HISTORIANS 

such  masterpieces  as  the  Recits  des  temps  merovingiens  (1840) 
— a  beautiful  and  accurate  description  of  France  at  the  very 
beginning  of  her  history,  in  which  he  overturned  the  puerile 
conceptions  that  had  prevailed  concerning  the  first  Frankish 
kings.  His  Dix  ans  d' etudes  historiques  and  the  essay  on  the 
formation  and  progress  of  the  Tiers-tftat  have  the  purely  his- 
torical rather  than  the  literary  flavor. 

Frangois  Guizot  (1787-1874) — austere,  solemn,  dogmatic 
— is  the  philosopher  first  and  last,  the  interpreter  of  history  in 
the  light  of  theories  and  ideas.  He  explains  rather  than  de- 
scribes the  tumultuous  course  of  events.  Guizot,  whose  touch 
is  heavy,  busied  himself  with  literary  work  during  all  of  his 
useful  life ;  but  he  was  not  primarily  a  writer,  and  he  did  not 
pretend  to  be.  Common  sense  and  a  solid  array  of  impos- 
ing facts  philosophically  presented  are  the  uppermost  quali- 
ties in  those  vast  syntheses,  the  Histoire  generate  de  la  civili- 
sation en  Europe,  and  the  Histoire  de  la  civilisation  en 
France.  He  is  the  founder  of  political  and  social  history  in 
France.  Aside  from  his  own  personal  contributions  to  the 
subject,  he  greatly  stimulated  historical  research  during  his 
term  of  office  as  minister  of  public  instruction;  committees 
were  appointed,  the  state  archives  were  overhauled,  and  their 
precious  contents  scrutinized,  edited,  printed. 

Sentiment  has  no  place  in  the  oratory  and  writings  of 
Guizot,  yet  his  private  life  discloses  a  pretty  romance.  Hear- 
ing that  two  distinguished  women,  Madame  de  Meulan  and 
her  daughter,  were  in  pecuniary  distress,  owing  to  Mademoi- 
selle de  Meulan 's  illness,  which  incapacitated  her  as  a  regular 
contributor  to  the  Publiciste,  Guizot  himself  (then  a  youth  of 
twenty)  wrote  an  article,  in  her  style,  and  sent  it  to  her  with 
an  explanatory  letter  signed  "  Inconnu."  He  followed  it 
up  with  similar  contributions,  until  she  had  recovered  her 
strength.  These  articles  duly  appeared  in  the  Publiciste,  be- 
ginning with  the  issue  of  March,  1807,  and  were  signed  with 
the  initial  "  F."  Eventually  the  ladies  discovered  the  iden- 
tity of  the  man  who  had  committed  this  gallant  fraud,  and  a 
few  years  later  Pauline  de  Meulan  became  Madame  Guizot. 

Guizot,  who  was  ambassador  to  London,  and  afterwards 
prime  minister,  was  greatly  respected  for  his  honesty  and 
disinterestedness.  His  last  words  to  his  grandchildren  were: 

459 


THE    HISTORY   OF   FRENCH   LITERATURE 

' '  Serve  your  country.  The  task  is  sometimes  hard ;  but  serve 
your  country  well." 

Adolphe  Thiers  (1797-1877),  eulogist  of  his  countrymen, 
whose  failings  are  not  apparent  to  him,  was  the  first  historian 
to  deal  with  questions  of  finance,  diplomacy,  and  administra- 
tion. He  was  the  political  rival  of  Guizot,  from  whom  he  dif- 
fered in  the  faculty  of  his  talent  and  the  fertility  of  his  ex- 
pedients. His  Histoire  de  la  Revolution  fran$aise,  completed 
when  he  was  but  thirty  years  of  age,  made  him  famous,  and 
holds  its  place  with  his  trustworthy  Histoire  du  Consulat  et  de 
I' Empire,  a  work  remarkable  as  a  narrative,  but  somewhat  in- 
ferior from  a  philosophical  or  scientific  standpoint.  Like 
Mignet,  he  was  a  fatalist.  The  historian  par  excellence  of 
aff airs,  his  style  is  simple,  clear,  and  natural.  Thiers  was  alone 
among  the  deputies  of  the  Chamber  in  opposing  the  declara- 
tion of  war  against  Prussia.  But  later  the  wisdom  of  his 
course,  as  seen  in  the  perspective  of  national  humiliation,  was 
acknowledged,  and  he  was  chosen  President  of  the  Republic. 
To  him  belongs  the  glory  of  extinguishing  the  revolutionary 
spirit  of  the  Commune,  and  of  freeing  French  territory  from 
foreign  occupation. 

Francois  Mignet  (1796-1884)  in  his  Histoire  de  la  Revolu- 
tion frangaise  produced  a  work  that  has  been  widely  trans- 
lated (in  Germany  alone  it  has  had  six  translators),  and  is 
regarded  as  the  best  of  the  brief  histories  on  the  subject.  His 
style  is  the  reverse  of  picturesque,  his  distinctive  merit  con- 
sisting in  his  talent  for  condensation.  He  treats  the  Revolu- 
tion as  a  natural  and  inevitable  development.  Among  his 
other  works  are  three  concerned  with  important  episodes  of 
modern  history:  La  Conquete  de  la  Germanie  au  Christia- 
nisme,  La  Formation  territoriale  de  la  France,  and  La  Re~ 
forme. 

Jules  Michelet  (1798-1874),  of  whom  it  has  been  said  that 
he  combined  the  learning  of  a  Benedictine  monk  with  the 
humorous  fancy  of  a  poet,  is  one  of  the  most  brilliant  and 
original  writers  of  modern  prose.  His  style,  which  has  been 
likened  to  that  of  Hugo  and  Carlyle,  is  spasmodic,  but  highly 
decorative,  picturesque,  and  vivid.  His  power  of  visualiza- 
tion, the  sympathy  and  intensity  of  his  mind,  are  such,  that 
he  reanimates  the  past,  and  makes  the  dead  walk  again.  An 

460 


HISTORIANS 

historian  with  such  a  temperament  is  not  without  his  faults, 
and  Michelet's  faults  are  palpable.  He  was  a  priest  hater, 
an  Anglophobe,  an  uncompromising  democrat.  For  the  Jes- 
uits he  entertained  much  the  same  feeling  the  devil  is  sup- 
posed to  have  for  holy  water.  This  passion,  indeed,  so  grew 
with  what  it  fed  upon  that  it  distorted  his  later  work.  In 
the  earlier  volumes  of  his  elaborate  Histoire  de  France  (which 
appeared  at  intervals  from  1833  to  1867)  his  imagination  and 
literary  skill  were  supremely  employed  in  his  account  of  the 
Middle  Ages.  But  from  the  time  of  his  attacks  on  the  clergy, 
in  the  early  forties,  in  which  he  was  associated  with  Edgar 
Quinet,  his  historical  manner  suffered  from  his  vehemence. 
He  apologized  for  his  sympathetic  treatment  of  mediaeval 
times,  and  forthwith  produced  a  Histoire  de  la  Revolution 
Frangaise  that  is  altogether  unreliable. 

Aside  from  his  great  history  (for  great  it  is  in  spite  of  its 
defects),  Michelet  wrote  a  number  of  poetical  and  imagina- 
tive studies  in  physical  science  and  sociology  that  are  charac- 
teristic of  his  genius.  Among  them  are:  La  Her,  La  Mon- 
tague, L'Oiseau,  L' Amour,  La  Sorciere.  These  studies  were 
the  product  of  his  self-imposed  exile  in  Brittany  and  on  the 
Riviera,  after  his  refusal  to  take  the  oath  of  allegiance  to 
Napoleon,  in  1851,  had  cost  him  his  government  offices. 

Alexis  de  Tocqueville  (1805-59),  whose  dispassionate  and 
penetrating  study  of  American  institutions,  La  Democratic 
en  Amerique,  has  become  a  classic,  came  to  the  United  States 
with  the  primary  object  of  studying  our  prison  system.  His 
later  work,  of  equal  importance,  L'Ancien  Regime  et  la  Re- 
volution is  a  philosophical  exposition  of  the  subject  exact 
in  research  and  illuminating  in  treatment.  In  elegance  and 
directness  of  style  he  resembles  Montesquieu,  and  his  "  De- 
mocracy in  America  "  has  been  called  a  continuation  of  the 
Espnt  des  lois. 

Fustel  de  Coulanges  (1830-89),  who,  according  to  Lan- 
son,  is  a  great  historian  and  a  great  writer,  is  distinguished 
by  his  La  Cite  Antique  and  the  Histoire  des  institutions  poli- 
tiques  de  I'ancienne  France — profound  and  comprehensive 
studies  of  ancient  societies  written  in  a  concise  style  of  severe 
simplicity. 

Lanfrey  has  contributed  an  iconoclastic  history  of  Napo- 

461 


THE    HISTORY   OF   FRENCH    LITERATURE 

leon;  Henri  Martin  an  elaborate  and  impartial  history  of 
France.  A  belated,  but  notable  publication  is  the  Memoires 
of  Madame  de  Remusat.  The  last  years  of  the  nineteenth 
century  teem  with  historical  works  of  no  mean  order,  written 
for  the  most  part  in  the  modern  naturalistic  and  scientific 
manner  that  is  or  is  not,  as  the  case  may  be,  associated  with 
the  literary  faculty  in  the  highest  sense  of  that  term.  We 
may  mention  the  Due  de  Broglie's  facile  recountal  of 
eighteenth-century  intrigues  of  the  court:  Le  Secret  du  Roi, 
Louis  XV,  Marie-Therese ;  Albert  Sorel's  descriptions  of 
diplomacy  in  revolutionary  times;  Thureau  Dangin's  admir- 
able narrative,  La  Monarchic  de  Juillet,  and  the  eighteenth- 
century  studies  of  Ernest  Lavisse.  In  conclusion,  there  are 
critics  who  lean  to  the  view  of  our  own  Professor  Wells,  when 
he  says : ' '  The  naturalistic  evolution  has  doubtless  been  a  gain 
to  history  as  a  science,  but  it  has  been  at  the  cost  of  its  lit- 
erary value.  .  .  .  Never  have  single  movements  or  periods 
been  studied  with  more  zeal  or  acumen;  yet  our  diligent  in- 
vestigators do  not  command  the  place  in  literature  nor  in 
popular  esteem  that  was  won  by  their  romantic  predecessors. ' ' 


CHAPTER   XXXIII 

CRITICS 

"  LA  critique  est  aisee  et  1'art  est  difficile,"  wrote  Des- 
touches, who,  it  is  needless  to  say,  was  no  critic,  but  a  play- 
wright. Destouches,  writing  a  century  before  modern  criti- 
cism had  cut  loose  from  the  hard-and-fast  traditions  of  the 
absolute,  could  not  foresee  the  time  when  the  true  critic 
would  be  defined  as  "  an  artist,  a  philosopher,  a  moralist — in 
short,  something  more  than  a  judge."  Criticism,  indeed,  was 
to  become  a  rare  and  difficult  art,  no  longer  employing  the 
measuring  rule  of  abstract  conventions  and  rigid  formulas, 
but  calling  for  wide  sympathies  and  knowledge,  a  perception 
and  understanding  of  both  men  and  books.  Two  centuries 
after  the  birth  of  Destouches  it  was  to  find  in  Anatole  France, 
himself  a  creative  writer,  a  practitioner  who  sees  criticism  as 
the  issue  of  philosophy  and  history — "  of  all  literary  forms 
the  last  in  date,  and  eventually  absorbing  them  all."  It  was 
to  make  itself  felt  through  the  philosophy  of  men  like  Renan 
and  Taine,  and  to  inspire  and  stimulate  entire  schools  of 
critics,  novelists,  poets.  In  one  form  or  another  it  was  fo 
animate  and  enrich  the  newspaper  and  periodical  press  with 
the  standards  set  by  the  genius  of  Gautier  and  the  abiding 
talent  of  the  lively  Janin. 

The  French  critics  of  the  First  Empire  were  Madame  de 
Stael,  who  considered  literature  in  its  relation  to  social  in- 
stitutions, and  Julien  Louis  Geoffroy  (1743-1814),  a  dra- 
matic critic  of  some  importance  in  his  day  and  generation, 
but  of  no  special  significance  in  the  development  of  criticism. 
He  is  chiefly  interesting  as  the  first  of  the  dramatic  spe- 
cialists in  that  department  of  criticism  which  the  French  have 
made  their  own,  its  most  notable  exponents  being  Jules  Janin, 
Jules  Lemaitre,  and  Francisque  Sarcey.  The  severity  of 

463 


THE    HISTORY   OP    FRENCH   LITERATURE 

Geoffrey's  criticisms,  which  were  not  exclusively  dramatic, 
earned  for  him  the  surname  of  "  the  terrible."  A  certain 
poet,  stung  by  his  attacks,  retorted  with  an  epigram  addressed 
to  the  street  of  Geoffroy-Anier,  to  which  Gcoffroy  replied  with 
these  verses : 

Oui,  je  suis  un  anier,  sans  doute, 
Et  je  le  prouve  &  coups  de  fouet, 
Que  j 'applique  a  chaque  baudet 
Que  je  rencontre  sur  la  route.1 

Under  the  Restoration  criticism  began  to  take  an  impor- 
tant place  in  the  history  of  letters.  With  the  triumph  of  the 
Romantic  movement  it  became  a  guiding  influence  that  has 
suffered  little  interruption ;  towards  the  end  of  the  century  it 
renewed  its  vigor  and  its  vogue.  Villemain  (1790-1870), 
professor  of  literature  at  the  Sorbonne,  was  the  pioneer  of 
the  newer  academic  criticism;  he  broadened  and  humanized 
the  critical  treatment  of  history  by  making  it  descriptive  and 
pictorial.  His  younger  contemporary,  D.  Nisard  (1806-84), 
clung  to  the  old  traditions,  and  did  his  best  to  stem  the  rising 
tide  of  Romanticism.  With  these  must  be  mentioned  the 
Swiss,  Alexandre  Vinet  (1797-1847),  whose  methods  were 
allied  to  Nisard 's;  Saint-Marc  Girardin,  who  held  to  a  mid- 
dle course;  Gustave  Planche,  an  uncompromising  dogmatist; 
Philarete  Chasles,  who  discussed  English  literature  with  some 
animation  of  style:  E.  M.  Caro,  some  of  whose  interesting 
studies  of  French  writers  have  found  their  way  into  English 
translations;  Eugene  Geruzez,  who  left  us  a  short  history  of 
French  literature  that  has  not  been  excelled  in  its  kind. 

Meanwhile,  Charles  Augustin  Saiute-Beuve  (1804-69), 
by  far  the  greatest  literary  critic  that  France  has  yet  pro- 
duced, had  lent  the  weight  of  his  great  authority  and  revo- 
lutionary method  to  the  principles  espoused  by  the  rebellious 
Romanticists  of  1830.  In  poetry  and  fiction  those  principles 
have  suffered  from  the  invasions  of  succeeding  creative 
schools,  but  the  critical  method  inaugurated  by  Sainte-Beuve 

1  Yes,  I  am  an  ass-driver,  without  doubt,  and  I  prove  it  with  blows  of 
the  whip  which  I  apply  on  every  donkey  that  I  meet  on  the  road. 

464 


CRITICS 

has  remained  a  model  that  no  assault  of  dogmatism  has  under- 
mined. That  method  consisted,  in  the  first  place,  in  ignoring 
the  traditional  rules  and  theories  to  which  the  various  kinds 
of  literature  were  supposed  to  conform,  and  in  taking  into 
consideration  the  author's  purpose  and  particular  accom- 
plishment, without  reference  to  an  artificial  standard.  Re- 
jecting such  a  standard,  Sainte-Beuve  arrived  at  his  estimate 
through  a  catholic  and  universal  view  of  literature,  fortified 
by  tolerance  and  sound  taste.  In  the  second  place,  his  criti- 
cism took  into  account  the  life  of  the  writer,  and  the  special 
circumstances  attending  the  production  of  his  work.  It  was 
biographical  criticism  in  the  best  sense — a  kind  of  natural  his- 
tory of  each  author's  genius.  His  works  comprise  some  fifty 
volumes,  including  the  comprehensive  Histoire  de  Port-Royal. 
He  was  the  Boileau  of  his  century,  and  his  critical  essays — 
many  of  them  first  published  in  the  columns  of  the  press — 
dominated  the  literary  judgments  of  the  times.  The  seven  vol- 
umes of  the  Portraits  litteraires  and  the  thirteen  volumes  of 
the  Causeries  du  lundi  contain  estimates — masterly  and  sym- 
pathetic—of nearly  all  the  great  French  writers,  together 
with  many  foreign  ones. 

French  criticism  has  met  with  the  reproach  that  however 
brilliant  and  sound  it  may  be,  it  suffers  in  a  measure  from 
that  national  conservatism,  or  self-sufficiency,  which  judges 
the  literature  of  France  according  to  its  own  standards,  and 
without  knowledge  of  foreign  productions.  One  of  the  critics 
who  does  not  fall  under  this  reproach  is  Edmond  Scherer 
(1815-89),  whose  numerous  studies  of  contemporary  writers 
— contributed  to  various  French  journals — possess  a  special 
value.  Scherer  had  strong  and  singular  prejudices,  and  cer- 
tain limitations  of  sympathy  that  disqualified  him  as  a  critic 
of  more  than  one  great  writer  who  offended  his  notions  of 
propriety  and  ordered  genius;  but,  if  one  keeps  in  view  his 
pet  animosities,  he  will  be  seen  to  rank  among  the  foremost 
of  the  critical  fraternity. 

The  critical  work  of  Renan  and  Taine  has  been  touched 
upon  in  preceding  pages.  No  critic  of  their  stature  has 
arisen  in  the  France  of  to-day;  but  this  special  function  of 
letters  is  brilliantly  discharged  by  Anatole  France,  Jules 
Lemaitre,  and  !Emile  Faguet.  In  Anatole  France  the  dil- 
31  465 


THE    HISTORY   OF    FRENCH   LITERATURE 

ettantism  of  Renan  is  perpetuated  in  a  style  charming  for 
its  grace  and  effective  in  its  insinuating  irony;  his  criticisms— 
mainly  allied  to  journalism — are  in  part  collected  in  the  two 
volumes  of  La  Vie  litteraire.  Lemaitre  is,  above  all,  the  apostle 
of  cleverness;  the  scintillations  of  his  style,  as  first  exhibited 
in  the  literary  essays  collected  under  the  title,  Les  Contem- 
porains  (1886),  captured  the  Parisian  fancy.  In  the  numer- 
ous volumes  of  Impressions  de  theatre  are  assembled  the 
opinions  of  a  dramatic  critic  who  has  made  the  stage  his 
pretext  for  lively  dissertations  upon  society — the  essays  of  a 
witty  moralist  whose  actual  value  as  a  censor  of  life  and  art 
is  still  to  be  determined.  Very  different  in  manner  is 
Lemaitre  'a  successor  as  dramatic  critic  on  the  Journal  des 
Debats — the  sober  and  scholarly  Faguet,  whose  analytic 
method  is  a  compromise  between  the  severity  of  Brunetiere 
and  the  temperamental  transcriptions  of  the  impressionists. 
His  studies  of  sixteenth-,  seventeenth-,  eighteenth,  and  nine- 
teenth-century writers  are  his  most  important  work. 

In  the  death  of  Ferdinand  Brunetiere  (1849-1907) 
French  letters  lost  a  critical  leader  whose  influence  on  con- 
temporary thought  was  very  considerable.  M.  Brunetiere 
in  his  methods  was  the  antithesis  of  the  school  represented  by 
Anatole  France.  His  cardinal  qualities  are  logic,  learning, 
and  a  rigorous  habit  of  mind  that  tolerates  no  trifling  by  the 
decadents  of  literature.  He  stood  for  the  best  traditions  of 
the  Revue  des  Deux-Mondes,  with  which  he  was  so  long 
associated,  and  his  great  erudition,  loftiness  of  purpose  and 
intellectual  grasp  were  respected  even  by  those  who  attacked 
him  because  of  his  dogmatism  and  somewhat  pedagogic 
attitude.  M.  Brunetiere 's  logical  powers,  capacity  for  syn- 
thesis, and  solid  literary  attainments  find  their  highest  ex- 
pression in  his  comprehensive  Evolution  des  Genres  dans 
I'Histoire  de  la  Litterature  Frangaise.  Some  acquaintance 
with  his  copious  output  of  essays  is  needful  to  those  readers 
who  would  rightly  observe  the  various  forces  at  work  in 
modern  France. 

The  doctrinal  and  the  impressionistic  schools  of  critics 
have  for  twenty  years  waged  a  controversy  always  acute  and 
occasionally  bitter.  In  illustration  of  their  opposing  attitudes 
a  French  writer  offers  this  example:  Two  spectators  witness 

466 


CRITICS 

a  performance  of  the  melodrama,  ' '  The  Two  Orphans. ' '  Both 
are  moved  to  tears.  One  of  them  says:  "  I  have  been  in- 
terested, touched;  I  have  wept:  therefore,  this  play  is  a 
masterpiece."  He  is  an  impressionist.  The  other  one  says: 
"  It  is  true  I  have  wept ;  doubtless  I  would  weep  if  I  returned 
to-morrow.  Nevertheless,  on  reflection,  I  must  tell  myself 
that  the  devices  employed  by  the  author  to  make  me  weep  are 
artificial,  and  that  there  is  in  his  play  only  the  appearance 
of  human  truth.  It  is  not,  then,  a  literary  work. "  This  critic 
is  a  doctrinaire. 

Faguet  says :  ' '  The  flood  of  critical  literature  of  the  nine- 
teenth century  is  one  of  the  scourges  of  this  period,  and  in 
the  eyes  of  posterity  it  will  appear  ridiculous  that  the  nine- 
teenth century  produced  fewer  books  in  the  proper  sense  of 
the  word  than  books  dedicated  to  their  criticism.  But  all  real 
novelty  incurs  this  misfortune,  and  in  our  day  there  is  a 
deluge  of  critical  works,  just  as  in  the  seventeenth  century 
there  was  a  deluge  of  tragedies,  and  in  1830  of  elegiac  verse. ' ' 


CHAPTER   XXXIV 

THE   MODERN   DRAMA 

CORNEILLE,  Racine,  Voltaire  not  only  dominated  the  stage 
in  their  day,  but  held  unchallenged  sway  over  the  theater- 
going public  until  1827,  when  the  insurrectional  proclamation 
in  the  Preface  de  Cromwell  heralded  the  romantic  drama — 
"  everything  which  is  in  nature  is  in  art."  The  classicists 
were  only  for  a  time  obscured,  but  tragedy  as  a  genre  was 
lost  in  this  vigorous  and  trivial  form  of  the  melodrama. 

The  apparent  great  victory  of  Romanticism  had  but  an 
ephemeral  existence,  however,  and  with  the  failure  of  Les 
Burgraves  in  1843,  it  suffered  a  rapid  decline;  Racine  and 
Corneille,  momentarily  eclipsed,  were  restored  to  favor,  and 
shone  with  enhanced  beauty  through  the  marvelous  interpreta- 
tion of  the  great  Rachel.  These  tragedies  still  endure,  but 
the  dramas  of  Hugo  are  fast  becoming  obsolete.  Hugo's 
conception  of  the  truth — the  natural  combination  of  the  sub- 
lime and  the  grotesque  which  must  meet  in  the  drama  as  they 
occur  in  life  and  in  creation — characterizes  his  entire  drama- 
turgy. Of  the  many  dramatists:  de  Vigny,  de  Musset, 
Alexandre  Dumas  pere,  Prosper  Merimee,  who  followed  in 
Hugo 's  footsteps,  not  one  has  been  able  to  hold  the  stage.  A 
decadence  began  and  melodrama  finally  sustained  only  by  the 
genial  interpretation  of  great  actors  deteriorated  so  markedly, 
that  public  taste  soon  turned  to  the  comedy  of  manners  and 
the  psychological  play. 

Since  the  time  of  Victor  Hugo,  France  has  produced  three 
men  whom  general  consent  accords  a  place  above  their 
brethren  in  the  long  list  of  her  brilliant  modern  playwrights. 
These  three,  in  the  order  of  critical  esteem,  are  Augier,  Dumas 
fils,  and  Sardou.  A  rapid  survey — less  with  regard  to 
chronology  than  to  other  considerations  which  seem  upper- 

468 


THE   MODERN   DRAMA 

most  in  an  attempt  to  comprehend  the  complicated  and 
contradictory  expressions  of  the  modern  French  dramatic 
literature — will  perhaps  suffice  to  make  clear  why  it  is  at  the 
same  time  so  wondrous  and  so  weak.  The  circumstance  that 
Victorien  Sardou 1  is  assigned  a  niche  in  the  dramatic  Pantheon 
as  one  of  the  three  surpassing  playwrights  seems  at  first 
glance  to  involve  a  paradox,  and  to  constitute  in  itself  an  in- 
dictment of  that  French  dramatic  genius  which,  whatever 
its  limitations,  outshines  by  far  the  rush-candle  of  sister 
nations.  The  analytical  criticism  of  a  distinguished  con- 
tributor to  the  London  Saturday  Review,  Mr.  George  Bernard 
Shaw,  sums  up  the  notorious  defects  of  M.  Sardou 's  methods 
in  one  irreverent  word — "  Sardoodledom, "  an  epithet  sug- 
gesting in  its  etymology  the  reprisal  of  a  Yankee  vexed  by 
Sardou 's  satire  L'Oncle  Sam  (1873).  It  is  not,  however, 
American  flippancy,  but  British  conservatism  that  speaks  in 
the  Saturday  Review.  The  play  is  Merivale's  English  version 
of  Fedora,  with  Mrs.  Patrick  Campbell  in  the  title  part.  ' '  I 
had  seen  Diplomacy  Dora,  and  Theodora,  and  La  Toscadora, 
and  other  machine  dolls  from  the  same  firm,"  says  Mr.  Shaw. 
"  And  yet  the  thing  took  me  aback.  To  see  that  curtain 
go  up  again  and  again  only  to  disclose  a  bewildering  pro- 
fusion of  everything  that  has  no  business  in  a  play  was  an 
experience  for  which  nothing  could  quite  prepare  me.  The 
postal  arrangements,  the  telegraphic  arrangements,  the  police 
arrangements,  the  names  and  addresses,  the  hours  and  seasons, 
the  tables  of  consanguinity,  the  railway  and  shipping  time- 
tables, the  arrivals  and  departures,  the  whole  welter  of 
Bradshaw  and  Baedeker,  Court  Guide  and  Post  Office  Direc- 
tory, whirling  round  one  little  incredible  stage  murder  and 
finally  vanishing  in  a  gulp  of  impossible  stage  poison,  made 
up  an  entertainment  too  Bedlamite  for  any  man  with  settled 
wits  to  preconceive." 

This  depreciation  of  one  of  M.  Sardou 's  most  popular  and 
thrilling  plays2  was  delivered  in  May,  1895.     Lest  it  seem 

1  Born  in  Paris,  September  7,  1831,  died  1908. 

2  "With  its  superbly  tragic  end,"  writes  a  German  critic;  with  a  death 
scene  which  "  begins  like  a  feeble  drawing-room  plagiarism  of  the  murder 
of  Nancy  by  Bill  Sikes,  and  ends  with  Gilbertian  absurdity,"  remarks  the 
spokesman  for  the  Review. 

469 


THE    HISTORY   OF   FRENCH   LITERATURE 

an  expression  of  that  singular  prejudice  1  reproved  by  Mrs. 
Browning,2  it  is  interesting  to  observe  that  some  years 
antecedent  to  that  date — namely,  in  May,  1878 — this  deprecia- 
tion was  anticipated  by  a  confrere  of  M.  Sardou,  on  the 
occasion  of  the  playwright's  admission  to  the  Academy. 
Addressed  orally  and  directly  to  his  human  subject,  and  not 
from  the  vantage  of  the  critic's  office  chair,  M.  Charles  Blanc's 
ironic  response  to  M.  Sardou 's  reception  speech  was  necessarily 
veiled  in  terms  of  adroit  and  subtle  raillery  that  to  duller 
apprehensions  would  have  passed  for  praise.  A  brief  extract 
from  this  "  address  of  welcome  "  is  worth  quoting  here  for 
more  than  one  reason.  It  not  only  sustains  the  judgment  of 
Mr.  Shaw,  but  is  a  model  of  that  polite  criticism  which  Prof. 
Brander  Matthews  (to  whom  we  are  indebted  for  the  extract) 
long  ago  held  to  be  the  only  proper  attitude  of  a  critic  who 
would  also  be  a  gentleman.  M.  Blanc  said : 

"  I  admire  the  skillful  ordering  of  the  room  in  which 
passes  the  action  of  your  characters,  the  care  you  take  in 
putting  each  in  his  place,  in  choosing  the  furniture  which 
surrounds  them,  which  is  always  not  only  of  the  style  required 
—that  goes  without  saying— but  significant,  expressive,  fitted 
to  aid  in  the  turns  of  the  drama.  .  .  .  The  letter! — it  plays 
a  part  in  most  of  your  plots;  and  all  of  it  is  important,  the 
wrapper  as  well  as  its  contents.  The  envelope,  the  seal,  the 
wax,  the  postage  stamp,  and  the  postmark,  and  the  tint  of 
the  paper  and  the  perfume  which  rises  from  it,  not  to  speak 
of  the  handwriting,  close  or  free,  large  or  small — how  many 
things  in  a  letter,  as  handled  by  you,  may  be  irrefutable  evi- 
dence to  betray  the  lovers,  to  denounce  the  villains,  and  to 
warn  the  jealous !  ' ' 

But  though  Sardou  is  a  past  master  of  "  properties,"  a 
"  supremely  skillful  contriver  and  arranger,"  a  "  journal- 
istic "  playwright,  with  an  eye  to  what  an  American  manager 
would  call  "  contemporaneous  human  interest,"  a  theatrical 
prestidigitator  whose  art  consists  in  diverting  your  attention, 


1  A  prejudice  which,  in  the  case  of  the  Saturday  Review,  intermittently 
breaks  out  in  symptoms  of  disapproval  of  things  American. 
2  The  English  have  a  scornful  insular  way 
Of  calling  the  French  light. — Aurora  Leigh. 

470 


by  wit  and  mystification,  from  a  mechanism  otherwise  too 
obvious;  though  he  is,  as  it  were,  a  Deus  ex  machina,  it 
must  not  be  overlooked  that  he  is  a  great  deal  more  than  this. 
His  immense  and  varied  output  since  the  early  period  of 
obscurity  and  starvation  (1850-60) — since  his  first  poetic 
play,  La  Taverne  des  Etudiants,  was  hissed  from  the  stage 
of  the  Odeon  (1854) — has  embraced  some  fifty-five  plays  of 
many  types,  ranging  through  farce,  satire,  opera,  melodrama, 
and  the  poetic  spectacular.  If  we  must  put,  say  Odette,  and 
Delia  Harding,  and  Theodora — to  name  no  others — in  the 
category  of  artistic  failures,  and  pass  over  in  silence  some 
plays  condemned  to  a  failure  still  more  comprehensive,  we 
must  remember  that  his  best  work  affords  the  truest  criterion 
of  his  powers.  Eabagas  (1871) — in  which  the  dramatist  im- 
paled the  demagogue  on  a  pen  of  merciless  satire  and  ridicule 
— is  pronounced  by  a  German  critic  to  be  "  the  best  political 
comedy  since  Aristophanes."  Prof.  Saintsbury  regards  it  as 
"  one  of  the  few  comedies  of  this  age  likely  to  become 
classical."  Sardou's  dominant  motive  in  writing  this  play 
was  to  hold  up  Gambetta,  the  Republican  leader,  to  ridicule 
and  contempt.  But  the  playwright  builded  better  than  he 
knew,  and  the  thirst  for  personal  reprisal  became,  in  his 
picture  of  political  hypocrisy,  a  bid  for  more  than  fleeting 
fame.  His  delightful  La  Famille  Benoiton  (1865)  is  a  social 
satire  in  which  he  exposes  the  immoral  love  for  luxury  of  a 
pleasure-mad  family  in  the  days  of  the  Second  Empire.  In 
the  same  vein  of  abounding  wit  and  satire  are  his  first  great 
successes,  Nos  Intimes1  (1861),  Nos  Eons  Villageois  (1866), 
and  Fernande  (1870).  The  latter,  which  is  to  some  extent  a 
departure  from  Sardou's  customary  technical  methods,  pic- 
tures "  the  exquisite  elevation  of  a  young  soul  which  has 
preserved  itself  pure  in  the  midst  of  all  the  impurities  of 
a  gambling  hell."  Sardou's  innocent  young  women  (in 
Seraphine,  in  Patrie,  in  Nos  bons  Villageois,  for  example)  are 
indeed  some  compensation  to  the  morally  fastidious  for  his 


1  Variously  adapted  in  England  and  America  as  "  Peril,"  "  Friends  or 
Foes?"  and  "Bosom  Friends."  The  famous  love  scene  in  Nos  Intimes  was 
taken  by  Sardou  from  one  of  his  early  attempts,  submitted  to  the  manager 
of  the  Gymnase,  with  the  title,  Paris  &  I'Envers. 

471 


THE    HISTORY    OF   FRENCH   LITERATURE 

offenses  of  bad  taste,  insincerity,  and  questionable  judgment 
in  such  plays  as  Divorgons  (1880),  Maison  Neuve  (1866),  and 
Les  Bourgeois  de  Pont-Arcy  (1878).  Dora  (1877) — some- 
what mutilated  in  the  English  versions — is  well  known  to 
Americans  under  the  title  of  "  Diplomacy."  A  factor  in  its 
Anglo-American  success  was  the  acting  of  the  Kendals  and, 
later,  of  Charles  Coghlan.  It  is  a  good  specimen  of  the 
Sardou  craftsmanship.  As  an  entertainer  pure  and  simple, 
Sardou  has  perhaps  produced  nothing  better  than  Les  Pattes 
de  Mouche  (1860),  known  to  the  German  stage  as  "  The  Lost 
Letter,"  and  in  the  United  States — where  it  has  enjoyed  a 
considerable  vogue — as  ' '  A  Scrap  of  Paper. ' '  * 

Sardou 's  endeavors  in  serious  drama  of  the  romantic- 
historical  type  are  represented  by  several  works,  of  which  the 
sixteenth-century  play  Patrie  (1869) — concerned  with  the 
theme  illumined  by  Motley  in  his  "  Rise  of  the  Dutch  Re- 
public " — is  the  best.  Patrie  proceeded  from  a  profounder 
observation  of  life  and  a  larger  power  for  historical  recon- 
struction than  we  find  in  his  Thermidor  (1891)  and  his  Robes- 
pierre. Provoked  by  the  failure  of  some  of  his  plays  in  Paris, 
Sardou  confined  the  production  of  Robespierre  (1899)  and 
Le  Dante  (1903)  to  London. 

The  purely  theatrical  effectiveness  of  La  Tosca  (1887), 
is  severely  criticised  by  Jules  Lemaitre,  who  says  of  Scarpia : 
"  He  is  atrocious;  he  is  of  a  supernatural  atrocity.  Do  not, 
I  beg  of  you,  compare  him  with  Richard  III,  with  lago,  with 
Nero,  who  are  men  of  parts,  complex,  artists. ' '  Bernard  Shaw 
calls  La  Gismonda,  Sardou 's  "  latest  edition  of  the  Kiralfian 
entertainment  .  .  .  and  which  is  surpassingly  dreary,  although 
it  is  happily  relieved  four  times  by  very  long  waits  between 
the  acts. ' ' 2  This  critical  scrutiny  by  aliens  goes  back  much 

1  The  germ  of  this  play  is  contained  in  Edgar  Allan  Poe's  short  story, 
"The  Purloined  Letter";  but  Sardou,  in  refuting  accusations  of  culpable 
plagiarism  in  this  and  other  instances,  successfully  defended  himself  in  the 
courts.  In  1883  he  wrote  Mes  Plagiats  by  way  of  reply  to  such  charges. 
As  a  matter  of  fact,  he  has  rather  preferred  to  borrow  from  himself — many 
of  his  characters  and  ideas  being  but  slight  variations  of  his  earlier  works. 

z  See  Dramatic  Opinions  and  Essays,  by  G.  Bernard  Shaw  (Brentano's, 
1906),  who  further  remarks:  "The  scene  being  laid  in  the  Middle  Ages, 
there  are  no  newspapers,  letters,  or  telegrams;  but  this  is  far  from  being 

472 


THE  MODERN  DRAMA 

farther  than  the  period  of  these  particular  triumphs — namely, 
in  1877 — a  British  critic  of  reputation  put  himself  on  record 
thus :  ' '  Whatever  style  will  best  succeed  with  the  public  is 
the  style  of  V.  Sardou."  Quoting  Jules  Claretie — who  calls 
Sardou  a  "  barometer  dramatist " — Professor  Matthews, 
applying  the  methods  of  a  dramatic  archaeologist  and  noting 
that  Sardou 's  plays  are  written  distinctly  to  suit  the  taste 
of  the  moment,  suggests  that  "  it  would  not  be  difficult  for 
anyone  familiar  with  politics  and  society  in  France  for  the 
last  score  of  years  to  declare  the  date  of  almost  any  of  M. 
Sardou 's  five-act  comedies  from  a  cursory  inspection  of  its 
allusions. ' ' 

With  respect  to  his  latest  productions,  including  some  flat 
failures,  Sardou  is  perhaps  at  his  happiest  when  he  drops 
melodrama  and  spectacle,  and  reverts  to  farce  (historically 
flavored)  as  in  Madame  Sans-Gene*  (1893).  The  semi-comic 
Napoleon  of  this  play  may,  it  is  true,  seem  little  more  than 
a  lay  figure;  but  Sardou,  we  believe,  had  the  immediate  and 
concrete  Mademoiselle  Jane  Hading  in  mind,  rather  than  the 
evasive  and  tantalizing  Thalia — and  this  accomplished  actress, 
together  with  Miss  Ellen  Terry,  has  doubtless  justified  to 
many  persons  the  plan  of  "  writing  around  "  an  individual 
player. 

Professor  Saintsbury  calls  Sardou  "  a  Beaumarchais, 
partly  manque  " — an  expression  which  we  can  translate  only 
by  availing  ourselves  of  the  American  vernacular — a  near- 
Beaumarchais.  A  survivor  of  his  period  and  his  group,  he 
has  taken  no  part  in  shaping  anew  the  unknown  destinies  of 
the  French  drama,  and  cannot  be  put  on  the  same  level  as 
Dumas  and  Augier. 

In  view  of  the  recent  propaganda  by  certain  zealous 
Frenchmen,  who  are  fearful  that  Americans  derive  their  no- 
tions of  French  domestic  life  from  the  popular  novel  of 

an  advantage,  as  the  characters  tell  each  other  the  news  all  through,  except 
when  a  child  is  dropped  into  a  tiger's  cage  as  a  cue  for  Madame  Bernhardt's 
popular  scream;  or  when  the  inevitable  stale,  puerile  love  scene  is  turned 
on  to  show  off  that  voix  celeste  stop  which  Madame  Bernhardt,  like  a 
sentimental  New  England  villager  with  an  American  organ,  keeps  always 
pulled  out." 

1  Written,  as  was  CtiopAlre,  in  collaboration  with  M.  Emile  Moreau. 

473 


THE    HISTORY   OF    FRENCH   LITERATURE 

intrigue,  it  does  not  seem  likely  that  the  plays  of  Alexandre 
Dumas  fils  would  be  recommended  by  them  as  representative 
of  the  national  genius.  Yet  the  younger  Dumas  (1824-95) 
was,  by  intention,  a  moralist  and  reformer  first  of  all,  and, 
within  the  narrow  limitations  of  his  choice  of  subjects,  he 
succeeded  in  establishing  for  himself  a  reputation  second 
only  to  that  of  Augier.  French  criticism  has  reproached 
English  literature  in  some  of  its  most  cherished  manifestations 
with  the  fault  of  didacticism,  yet  it  would  be  hard  to  discover 
a  more  complete  example  of  art  with  an  ethical  purpose  than 
is  afforded  by  the  preaching  playwright,  Alexandre  Dumas 
fils.  It  was  a  tendency  in  which  the  elder  Dumas,  given  over 
to  romanticism,  saw,  or  affected  to  see,  the  ultimate  ruin  of 
his  son 's  reputation.  Francisque  Sarcey  took  it  less  seriously. 
He  perceived  very  clearly  that  the  younger  man's  superb 
craftsmanship,  and  his  ability  to  write  brilliant,  telling 
dialogue,  outweighed  his  shortcomings  as  a  profound  ex- 
ponent of  human  life.  Sarcey  pointed  out  that  the  astonish- 
ing prefaces  to  the  printed  plays  are  ' '  a  chaos  of  clear  ideas  ' ' 
— that  is  to  say,  an  assemblage  of  ideas  without  logical  rela- 
tion. He  saw  in  Dumas  an  agitator  rather  than  a  philosopher ; 
but — '  *  he  stirred  up  a  great  many  questions ;  he  drew  upon 
them  our  distracted  attention;  he  compelled  us  to  think  of 
them.  Therein  he  did  his  duty  as  a  dramatist." 

Curiously  enough,  Dumas  is  best  known  to  Americans  by 
his  first  and  weakest  play,  La  Dame  aux  Camelias  (1848>, 
which  was  performed  at  the  Vaudeville  only  after  successive 
rejections.  Camille,  as  it  is  known  to  us  in  the  Anglicized, 
and  somewhat  Bowdlerized,  versions,  is  a  sentimental  idealiza- 
tion of  the  courtesan;  and  probably  owes  its  enduring  popu- 
larity to  the  opportunities  it  affords  "  emotional  "  actresses. 
It  is  interesting  to  recall  that  Paris  theatrical  managers  of 
the  mid-nineteenth  century  regarded  it  as  rather  too  shock- 
ing for  Paris  audiences;  but  it  met  with  an  instantaneous 
success,  due  in  a  measure  to  its  departure  from  cut-and-dried 
traditions  of  characterization. 

Dumas  had  already  written  a  book  of  youthful  poems,  and 
several  novels  of  some  merit;  but  his  fame  as  a  playwright 
has  quite  eclipsed  the  Aventures  de  Quatre  Femmes  et  d'un 
Perroquet  (1847),  the  Affaire  Clemenceau  (1846),  and 

474 


THE   MODERN   DRAMA 

Tristan  le  Roux  (1849).  La  Dame  aux  Camelias  had  first 
appeared  as  a  novel,  and  as  such  it  is  still  widely  read ;  Dumas 
tells  us  that  it  took  him  just  eight  days  to  transform  it  into 
a  play.  In  1853  he  attempted  to  follow  up  his  first  dramatic 
success  by  dramatizing  his  novel,  Diane  de  Lys,  written  in 
1851 ;  he  was  so  far  successful  that  he  was  enabled  to  work  at 
his  leisure  on  Le  Demi-Monde  (1855).  This  play,  which  some 
readers  will  recognize  under  the  title  of  "  The  Crust  of 
Society, ' '  is  perhaps  his  most  important  work.  The  term  ' '  de- 
mi-monde "  was  invented  by  him  to  describe  a  social  class  (la 
classe  des  declassed ),  "who  wish  to  have  it  believed  that 
they  have  been  what  they  are  not,  and  who  do  not  wish  to 
appear  what  they  are. ' '  But  in  spite  of  the  author 's  attempt 
to  force  his  definition  on  the  public,  the  term  demi-monde  is 
usually  applied  to  that  class  of  women  known  as  femmes 
galantes.  The  author's  conception  of  the  term  is  clearly 
brought  out  in  the  following  celebrated  passage  from  Le  Demi- 
Monde,  an  example  of  the  playwright 's  brilliant  style : 

"  Raymond. — In  what  world  are  we?  In  truth,  I  do 
not  understand  it  at  all. 

"  Olivier. — Ah,  my  dear  fellow,  it  is  necessary  to  live  for 
a  long  time  in  intimacy  with  the  Parisian  world  to  under- 
stand its  various  shades;  and  even  then  it  is  not  easy  to 
explain  matters.  Do  you  care  for  peaches? 

"  Raymond. — Peaches?    Yes. 

"  Olivier. — Very  well.  Go  to  a  fruiterer,  to  Chevez  or 
Potel,  and  ask  for  his  best  peaches.  He  will  show  you  a  basket 
containing  magnificent  specimens  of  fruit,  placed  at  some 
distance  one  from  the  other,  and  carefully  separated  by 
partitions,  so  that  they  will  not  touch  each  other,  and  become 
spoiled  by  contact.  Ask  the  price,  and  he  will  say,  '  Twenty 
sous  a  piece,'  I  suppose.  Look,  then,  and  you  will  surely 
see  in  the  neighborhood  of  this  basket  another  basket  filled 
with  peaches  just  as  fine  in  appearance  as  the  first,  only 
placed  closer  together,  and  so  arranged  that  they  cannot  be 
seen  from  all  sides,  which  the  dealer  has  not  offered  you  at 
all.  Say  to  him,  '  How  much  are  these?  '  He  will  answer, 
4  Fifteen  sous.'  You  will  naturally  ask  him  why  these 
peaches,  as  large,  as  fine,  as  ripe,  as  appetizing,  cost  less  than 
the  others.  Then  he  will  take  up  one  at  random  most  deli- 

475 


THE    HISTORY   OF    FRENCH   LITERATURE 

cately,  and  poising  it  between  two  fingers,  he  will  turn  it  and 
will  show  you  a  small  black  spot  which  is  the  cause  of  the 
inferior  price.  Well,  my  dear  fellow,  you  are  now  in  the 
basket  of  peaches  at  fifteen  sous.  The  women  by  whom  you 
are  surrounded  have  all  committed  some  indiscretion  in  the 
past;  each  one  has  a  blot  on  her  fair  name.  You  see  them 
close  together,  so  they  are  as  little  conspicuous  as  possible. 
And  thus,  with  the  same  birth,  the  same  appearance,  the  same 
tastes  as  the  women  of  society,  they  are  not  of  them,  but 
compose  what  we  may  call  the  demi-monde,  which  is  neither 
the  aristocracy  nor  the  bourgeoisie,  but  forms  a  floating  island 
in  the  ocean  of  Parisian  life,  and  recruits  itself  from  those 
who  have  fallen,  those  who  seek  refuge  here,  all  who  have 
come  here  from  two  continents,  whom  one  meets  everywhere, 
who  have  come,  one  knows  not  from  where. ' ' 

The  early  environment  of  Dumas  determined  in  a  measure 
his  selection  of  dramatic  themes.  An  illegitimate  son,  his 
schools  days  were  embittered  by  the  cruel  gibes  of  his  com- 
panions; and  it  is  not  surprising  that  in  later  years  he  fre- 
quently employed  his  pen  to  secure  the  rights  of  the  illegiti- 
mate child.  His  prefaces  to  La  Femme  de  Claude  (1873), 
and  L' Affaire  Clemenceau  are  eloquent  on  the  subject.  In 
his  preface  to  Monsieur  Alphonse  (1873),  a  typical  concep- 
tion, he  says:  "  In  the  midst  of  the  diverse  horrors  arising 
from  human  cupidity  and  human  stupidity,  there  is  but  one 
creature  deserving  of  continuous  and  repeated,  and  incessant 
aid,  because,  when  in  misery,  it  is  rendered  so  wholly  without 
any  fault  of  its  own — the  child."  His  material  for  La  Dame 
aux  Cornelias  was  gathered  at  first  hand  during  the  days  of 
tumultuous  experience,  before  he  was  confronted  with  the 
problem  of  earning  a  living.  Thereafter  the  problem  play, 
rather  than  the  play  of  sheer  sentimentality,  engaged  his 
energies ;  and,  in  one  form  or  another,  the  problem  was  much 
the  same — woman  in  her  sexual  relation  to  man.  An  avowed 
preacher  and  reformer,  no  one  has  yet  discovered  that  he 
formulated  a  consistent  code  of  ethics.  His  raisonneur — the 
character  put  forward  in  each  of  his  plays  as  a  mouthpiece 
for  his  arguments — assumes  protean  shapes.  In  Les  Idees  de 
Madame  Aubray  (1867)  Dumas  inculcated  the  duty  of  the 
seducer  to  marry  his  victim.  In  La  Femme  de  Claude,  the  in- 

476 


THE    MODERN    DRAMA 

junction  is  a  repetition  of  his  advice  to  hoodwinked  husbands 
(as  set  forth  in  his  pamphlet,  L'Homme-Femme  a  year 
earlier)  :  "  Tue-la!  "*  The  various  plays  in  which  the  hus- 
band, wife,  or  lover — as  the  case  may  be — is  killed  would  re- 
quire some  tabulation.  ' '  More  attracted, ' '  says  Jules  Lemai- 
tre,  "  by  the  moral  question,  than  by  life  itself,  and  occupied 
in  comprehending  life  rather  than  in  depicting  it,  it  follows 
that  the  plays  of  M.  Dumas  have  too  much  of  the  personality 
of  M.  Dumas." 

From  the  Anglo-Saxon  point  of  view,  it  can  hardly  be  said 
that  Dumas  "  saw  life  steadily  and  saw  it  whole."  In  a 
greater  degree  even  than  most  of  the  other  modern  French 
playwrights  he  saw  it  as  it  is  reflected  from  a  certain  angle 
in  Paris.  Meanwhile  the  problem  play  has  crossed  the 
Channel,  where  its  influence  is  manifest  in  the  works  of  some 
of  the  most  eminent  English  playwrights.  That  Dumas  was 
very  much  in  earnest  in  his  pursuit  of  an  ethical  purpose 
cannot  perhaps  be  questioned,  but  unfortunately,  as  Doumic 
says,  to  back  his  just  and  even  sound  ideas,  he  was  often 
paradoxical,  and  his  situations  were  almost  always  ticklish 
(scabreuses) .  In  his  preface  to  Un  pere  prodigue  (1859) 
Dumas  has  made  a  candid  confession:  "  A  man  may  lack 
merit  as  a  thinker,  a  moralist,  a  philosopher,  an  author, 
yet,  nevertheless,  become  a  playwright  of  the  first  class — 
that  is  to  say,  in  setting  in  motion  before  you  the  purely 
external  movements  of  humanity. ' ' 

Among  other  plays  of  this  master  craftsman  are  La  Ques- 
tion d'argent  (1857) ;  Le  Fits  naturel  (1858),  one  of  his  most 
effective  dramas;  L 'Ami  des  femmes  (1864),  a  very  strong, 
subtle  play  written  in  a  superb  style;  La  Supplice  d'une 
femme  (1865),  a  three-act  play  palpitating  with  movement, 
and^  occupying  but  an  hour  and  a  half  in  the  performance ; 
L'Etrangere  (1876).  Dumas  was  instrumental  in  bringing 
about  the  divorce  laws  of  France  (1884).  In  his  introduction 
to  L'Etrangere  he  wrote:  "  The  Chambers  need  only  ratify 
divorce,  an  immediate  result  would  be  the  complete  transposi- 

1  "  Kill  her! "  The  French  law,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  permitted  a  wronged 
husband  to  take  just  such  summary  revenge,  and  the  unwritten  law  not 
unfrequently  does  here. 

477 


THE    HISTORY   OF    FRENCH   LITERATURE 

tion  of  our  stage.  The  deceived  husbands  of  Moliere  and  the 
unhappy  women  of  the  modern  plays,  would  completely  dis- 
appear from  the  scene."  Denise  (1885),  is  considered  one 
of  his  strongest  and  most  dramatic  plays,  in  which,  however, 
repugnant  truths  are  made  too  aggressively  prominent;  in 
Francillon  (1887),  Dumas 's  skill  in  construction  is  matched 
only  by  his  adroitness  in  the  surprise  of  the  climax.  Dumas 
was  admitted  to  the  French  Academy  in  1874. 

Where  Dumas,  despite,  or  because  of,  his  brilliant  rhetoric, 
falls  short  as  an  ethical  teacher,  Emile  Augier  (1820-89) 
succeeds  by  virtue  of  his  larger  outlook,  his  sound  morality, 
and  his  happier  and  more  wholesome  treatment  of  social 
qu'estions.  Angier,  says  a  French  critic,  has  a  "  sanguine  " 
temperament.  He  becomes  angry  and  tranquil,  he  flies  into 
a  passion,  but  he  is  merciful;  Dumas  is  choleric;  he  is  merci- 
less and  takes  fierce  revenge;  Sardou,  is  above  all  nervous: 
he  has  passing  caprices  and  paroxysms  of  gayety. 

Augier 's  art  is  an  inheritance  from  Moliere  and  Beau- 
marchais.  In  the  hands  of  Dumas  a  delicate  and  dangerous 
subject  was  apt  to  take  on  the  tones  of  melodrama;  under 
Augier 's  treatment  it  became  a  picture  of  life.  Dumas  and 
Sardou 's  effects  are  respectively  attained  through  appeals 
to  the  emotions  and  to  ingenious  devices  of  plot;  Augier 's 
bid  for  immortality  is  through  the  analysis  and  exposition  of 
character.  Hence  he  enjoys  a  preeminence  at  home,  while 
abroad  he  is  little  more  than  a  name. 

Augier  rejoiced  in  a  grandfather  (Pigault-Lebrun)  who 
wrote  a  great  many  popular  novels  now  forgotten.  To  this 
ancestral  strain,  it  is  presumed,  he  owed  his  literary  bent, 
which  set  him  to  writing  plays  before  he  began  to  practice 
law,  and  pretty  soon  justified  his  change  in  the  choice  of  a 
profession.  Augier 's  great  merit  lay  in  his  excellent  por- 
traiture of  French  bourgeois  society.  Common  sense  was  the 
dominant  feature  in  his  plays.  This  tendency  did  not  find 
favor  with  the  critics,  led  by  Theophile  Gautier,  Vacquerie, 
and  other  romanticists,  who  called  it  "  1'ecole  du  bon  sens." 

Augier  was  above  all  a  man  of  domestic  tastes ;  devoted  to 
his  home,  it  was  the  sanctity  of  the  home  that  he  upheld  in 
his  dramatic  work.  After  a  century  of  ill  usage,  by  French 
dramatists,  the  husband  finally  came  into  his  rights  on  the 

478 


THE   MODERN   DRAMA 

stage  with  Augier.  While  other  playwrights  were  the 
apologists  of  libertinage,  Augier  courageously  undertook  the 
defense  of  the  family  and  protested  against  conjugal  in- 
fidelity. This  spirit  animates  his  plays  L'Aventuriere  (1848) 
regarded  by  some  critics  as  his  masterpiece,  and  Gabrielle 
(1849),  for  which  he  was  awarded  the  Monty  on  prize  for 
virtue.  The  latter  play  called  forth  cries  of  admiration  for 
the  author  from  the  spectators  in  the  words  of  the  play :  ' '  0 
pere  de  famille!  0  poete!  je  t'aime!  " 

Augier  became  famous  when  he  was  but  twenty-four  years 
of  age;  his  play,  La  Cigue  (1844),  unanimously  rejected  by 
the  committee  of  the  Theatre-Frangais,  was  triumphantly 
produced  at  the  Odeon.  Singularly  enough,  its  classic  theme 
(like  the  subject  of  his  Joueur  de  flute,  written  at  the  same 
period,  but  not  produced  till  1850)  comprehended  the  re- 
demption of  the  courtesan  by  love.  In  1855,  when  his 
dramatic  development  had  become  apparent,  it  was  the  false 
gentimentalism  in  which  such  a  thesis  may  be  enveloped  that 
impelled  him  to  counteract  Dumas 's  Dame  aux  Camelias  with 
his  own  vigorous  and  startling  Le  Manage  d'Olympe  (1855). 
In  this  play  (which  contributed  to  his  election  to  the  French 
Academy)  Augier  relentlessly  exposed  the  pretensions  of  the 
"  demi-mondaines, "  who  were  attempting  to  force  their  way 
into  respectable  society.  The  Dame  aux  Camelias  was  in  line 
with  the  tendency — made  fashionable  by  Prevost's  Manon 
Lescaut,  and  Victor  Hugo's  Marion  Delorme,  and  endur- 
ing for  a  century — to  glorify  the  impure  woman.  Augier 
presented  a  far  different,  and  a  more  convincing  portrait  in 
that  of  the  adventuress  who  seeks  to  besmirch  the  honor  of  a 
noble  family,  and  is  shot  down  by  the  protector  of  that  honor. 

Three  of  Augier 's  plays  are  accounted  classics:  Le  Gendre 
de  M.  Poirier  (1854),  one  of  the  most  delightfully  and 
naturally  sketched  pictures  of  contrasting  social  ranks — the 
ambitious  bourgeois  and  the  ruined  aristocrat— and  which 
still  holds  a  first  place  on  the  roster  of  the  Theatre-Franc.ais ; 
L'Aventuriere  (1848),  a  comedy  in  verse;  and  Le  Fits  de 
Giboyer  (1862).  The  latter  play  is  a  sequel  to  Les  Eff routes 
(1861),  both  plays  being  directed  against  corruptible  journal- 
ists. In  Le  Fils  de  Giboyer,  Augier  rose  to  his  full  height  as  a 
satirist  in  what  was  regarded  as  an  attack  on  the  clerical  party, 

479 


THE    HISTORY   OF   FRENCH   LITERATURE 

and  in  which  he  unhappily  slandered  the  ultramontane  jour- 
nalist Louis  Veuillot,  who  answered  him  in  a  strong  pamphlet, 
Le  Fonds  de  Giboyer.  According  to  Jules  Lemaitre,  les 
Eff routes  is  the  ' '  most  powerful,  the  liveliest  and  soundest  of 
Augier's  comedies.  .  .  .  The  uprightness  of  mind  and  of  heart, 
the  generous  honesty  which  is,  as  one  generally  admits,  the 
soul  of  Augier's  entire  dramaturgy,  is  particularly  apparent 
in  this  beautiful,  satirical  comedy." 

Among  Augier's  other  plays  written  wholly  by  himself 
or  in  collaboration,  are  Les  Lionnes  pauvres  (1858),  with  its 
lesson  to  pleasure-mad,  faithless  wives;  Un  Beau  Manage 
(1859)  ;  La  Contagion  (1866),  in  the  personality  of  whose 
adventurous  hero,  society  thought  to  recognize  the  Due  de 
Morny.  Augier's  four-act  comedy,  Madame  Caverlet  (1875), 
is  a  masterpiece  and  a  strong  defense  in  favor  of  divorce. 
Jean  de  Thommeray  (1873),  with  its  touching  scene  of  a 
prodigal  son's  enlistment  in  the  ranks  of  his  Breton  country- 
men marching  to  the  defense  of  Paris,  is  taken  from  a  novel 
by  Jules  Sandeau.  Les  Fourchambault  (1878)  had  an  im- 
mense success;  it  is  concerned  with  the  problem  of  the  rights 
of  illegitimate  children.  After  Les  Fourchambault,  Augier 
ceased  to  write  for  the  stage,  feeling  that  he  had  put  forth 
the  best  that  was  in  him.  Augier  never  made  his  art  his  trade, 
but  he  had  enjoyed  a  career  of  uninterrupted  success  for  forty 
years.  His  first  play  had  been  a  revelation,  writes  Pailleron, 
his  last,  a  triumph,  and  this  victor  did  not  even  cease  con- 
quering when  he  had  stopped  writing,  for  his  repertory  never 
lost  its  popularity.  Viewed  after  a  lapse  of  over  thirty  years, 
not  one  of  his  best  plays  has  gone  out  of  favor.  Of  his 
twenty-seven  plays,  nine  are  written  in  verse,  and  these  nine 
include  at  least  two  of  his  best  dramas ;  yet  it  was  dramatically 
effective  verse  rather  than  great  poetry.  His  prose — better 
suited  to  plays  with  modern  themes — is  both  lively  and  power- 
ful, and  is  the  vehicle  for  his  clear  and  vigorous  thought. 

Augier  never  posed  as  a  reformer  nor  as  an  apostle;  he 
never  preached  nor  pleaded,  but  kept  in  view  the  good  sound 
moral  sense  of  the  people.  The  strength  of  a  play,  he  him- 
self said,  consists  in  being  the  resounding  echo  of  the  whisper- 
ings of  society,  in  formulating  general  sentiments  which  are 
still  vague,  and  in  directing  the  confused  observation  of  the 

480 


THE    MODEKN   DRAMA 

majority.  Of  the  three  or  four  masters  of  the  stage,  notes 
Jean  Fleury,  Augier  was  the  most  human,  the  finest  poised, 
and  the  one  who  kept  himself  best  in  hand. 

To  go  back  a  little:  the  most  popular  playwright  of  the 
nineteenth  century  in  France  was  one  who  did  not  bother 
himself  about  social  problems,  or  search  for  the  secret  springs 
of  human  action,  but  simply  strove  to  entertain.  Augustin 
Eugene  Scribe  (1791-1861)  was  a  success  in  the  most  com- 
plete commercial  sense  of  the  word.  He  possessed  in  a  super- 
normal degree  the  faculty  of  knowing  exactly  what  would 
please  the  multitude,  together  with  an  amazing  facility  for 
supplying  it,  and  a  fertility  of  production  that  is  almost  in- 
credible. Were  he  living  to-day  as  an  American  playwright, 
he  would  be  in  himself  a  syndicate,  and  a  rival  in  wealth  to 
our  most  industrious  millionaires.  It  is  said  that  the  self- 
contained  actor-manager  can  "  count  the  house  "  during  the 
progress  of  a  play  without  losing  his  cue — Scribe  had  the 
prophetic  vision,  and  foresaw,  as  he  wrote,  the  exact  relation 
between  the  box-office  returns  and  the  lines  or  situations  that 
he  was  at  that  moment  contriving.  It  was  not  that  he  was 
wholly  mercenary,  for  no  man  greedy  for  money  would  so 
generously  have  shared  it  with  his  numerous  collaborators, 
to  some  of  whom  he  was  indebted  only  for  the  merest  sugges- 
tions, and  to  whom  he  gave  freely  both  the  profits  and  the 
credit  of  authorship.  The  truth  is,  perhaps,  that  he  could 
not  help  being  superficial;  he  lacked  the  inspiration  and  the 
perception  of  genius,  and  he  made  the  most  of  the  talents  he 
possessed.  These  included  supreme  skill  in  the  construction 
of  a  play,  and  the  gift  of  entertaining  an  audience  without 
making  it  think.  He  preached  no  false  morality,  and  did 
not  sin  against  good  taste ;  his  virtuous  characters  were  very, 
very  good,  and  his  vicious  ones  never  really  "  horrid." 
People  did  not  sleep  during  his  plays ;  but  they  slept  very  well 
afterwards. 

The  consequence  is  that  Scribe  has  proved  to  be  as  perish- 
able as  he  was  popular.  Few  of  his  plays  are  performed,  or 
even  remembered  to-day.  We  say  few  because  the  pieces  to 
his  credit  number,  according  to  various  estimates,  from  three 
hundred  and  fifty  to  five  hundred,  whereas  the  titles  of  the 
more  important  do  not  occupy  much  space  in  the  printing. 
32  481 


THE    HISTORY   OF   FRENCH   LITERATURE 

They  include  Le  Mariage  d' Argent  (1827)  ;  Bertrand  et 
Eaton  (1833)  ;  La  Camaraderie  (1837) ;  Le  Verre  d'Eau 
(1840) ;  line  Chaine  (1841) ;  Les  Conies  de  la  Reine  de 
Navarre  (1850) ;  Bataille  de  Dames  (1851)  ;  Les  Doigts  de 
Fee  (1858);  and  Adrienne  Lecouvreur  (1849),  which  is 
concerned  with  the  love  of  Maurice  de  Saxe  for  the  famous 
' '  tragedienne  ' '  who  gives  the  play  its  name.  The  four  plays 
last  named  were  written  in  collaboration  with  Ernest  Le- 
gouve ; *  some  of  those  enumerated  had  their  first  production 
at  the  Comedie-Franc.aise. 

Scribe's  later  work  is  his  best;  but  as  early  as  1836  the 
French  Academy  had  opened  its  doors  to  this  prosperous  son 
of  a  silk  merchant,  who  for  a  matter  of  forty  years  was  the 
foremost  playwright  of  France.2  His  astonishing  variety 
knew  no  bounds.  As  a  librettist  his  words  are  still  sung  in 
such  operas  as  Auber's  Fra  Diavolo;  Meyerbeer's  Les  Hugue- 
nots, and  L'Africaine;  Donizetti's  La  Favorite,  and  in  other 
musical  works  less  familiar  in  the  current  repertory.  He  com- 
posed farces,  melodramas,  comedies,  without  number;  he 
essayed  the  historical  drama.  He  wrote  a  dozen  plays  before 
his  first  success,  Une  Nuit  de  la  Garde  Nationale — a  one-act 
sketch  or  vaudeville — produced  in  1816.  Thereupon  he 
devoted  himself  chiefly  to  the  elaboration  of  vaudeville,  to 
which  he  gave  substance  and  dramatic  form.  In  the  ten  years 
of  his  exclusive  connection  with  the  Gymnase  theater,  he  con- 
tributed some  one  hundred  and  fifty  plays,  most  of  which 
were  vaudevilles,  or  what  we  would  call  farce  comedies.  A 
signal  example  of  his  skill  was  Valerie  (1822),  a  one-act 
vaudeville  which,  with  little  change,  he  divided  into  three 
acts,  and,  presto!  behold  a  comedy  for  the  Theatre-Francais. 
That  there  was  repetition  of  character  and  situation  in  such 
a  copious  output  it  would  seem  to  go  without  saying ;  yet  his 
art  resembled  a  kaleidoscope,  in  which  the  same  bits  of  colored 
glass  take  on  innumerable  variations  in  design. 

1  Ernest  Legouv6,  an  Academician,  wrote  the  tragedy  Medee  for  the 
great  actress,  Rachel. 

2  Scribe's  imposing  Chateau  de  Sericourt  bears  the  following  original 
inscription: 

"Le  Theatre  a  paye  cet  asile  ehampe'tre; 
Vous  qui  passez,  merci!  je  vous  le  dois  peut-etre." 

482 


THE  MODERN  DRAMA 

Meanwhile,  tragedy  for  a  moment  lifted  its  head,  and 
there  was  promise  of  a  compromise  between  Romanticism  run 
mad  and  the  classicism  it  had  dethroned.  Francois  Ponsard 
(1814-67),  after  attempting  a  translation  of  Byron's  "  Man- 
fred," produced  in  Lucrece  (1843)  a  tragic  drama  which  won 
the  applause  of  the  critics,  but  in  which  the  fire  of  genius  was 
presently  discerned  to  be  only  a  flicker.  His  Agnes  de  Meranie 
(1847)  and  Charlotte  Corday  (1850)  likewise  burned  with  an 
intermittent  flame;  for  all  Musset's  amiable  tribute  to  Pon- 
sard's  poetry,  the  torch  had  not  been  passed  on  from  Corneille. 
It  was  the  expiring  cry  of  tragedy.  In  France,  as  elsewhere, 
the  modern  has  sought  a  less  exalted  form  of  expression; 
when  the  Theatre-Francais  feels  impelled  to  invoke  the  tragic 
muse,  it  must  fall  back  on  the  seventeenth-century  classics,  or 
trust  to  a  Bernhardt  to  vitalize  the  antiquated  plays  of  Hugo. 
Ponsard  had  been  hailed  as  the  founder  of  the  "  school  of 
common  sense  ";  but  though  he  fared  somewhat  better  with 
his  comedies,  L'Honneur  et  I' Argent  (1853) ;  La  Bourse 
(1856),  Le  Lion  amoureux  (1866),  an  historical  study  of  the 
morals  of  the  Directoire — effective  by  virtue  of  vivacious  and 
powerful  dialogue — he  is  an  interesting  memory  rather  than 
a  living  tradition.  It  must  not  be  forgotten,  however,  that 
Joseph  Autran  was  made  an  Academician  because  of  his 
tragedy,  La  Fille  d'Eschyle  (1848).  In  the  poetic  drama, 
Henri  de  Bornier  (1825-1901)  met  with  a  great  immediate 
success  that  has  by  no  means  endured.  Beauty  of  language 
and  loftiness  of  conception  have  not  sufficed  as  preservatives 
of  La  Fille  de  Roland  (1875),  in  which  history  was  gro- 
tesquely distorted.  Its  popularity  is  in  part  accounted  for  by 
its  political  allusions.  De  Bornier's  Les  Noces  d'Attila  (1880) 
was  received  with  less  enthusiasm;  dramatic  poetry  cast  in 
the  old  classic  molds,  without  the  divine  spark  of  genius  could 
not  move  a  modern  audience  even  when  served  with  political 
sauce.  Of  Jean  Richepin's  (1849-)  several  plays  in  verse, 
Le  Chemineau  (1897)  has  attained  more  than  a  fleeting  popu- 
larity. The  poetic  play  has  in  recent  years  experienced  a 
kind  of  revival  in  France,  and,  curiously  enough,  seems  to  be 
on  even  terms  with  the  essays  of  the  naturalistic  school.  The 
evidence  of  this  taste  has  been  emphatically  shown  in  the  case 
of  M.  Rostand,  as  we  shall  presently  see. 

483 


THE    HISTORY   OF   FRENCH   LITERATURE 

Melodrama,  from  time  to  time,  has  had  its  vogue  in 
France.  Ere  the  Romantic  movement  was  precipitated  by 
Hugo,  Pixerecourt  pleased  the  populace  with  a  number  of 
plays  quite  outside  the  pale  of  literature.  Then  came 
Bouchardy,  who  in  Lazare  le  Pdtre  and  other  prose  dramas 
borrowed  something  of  the  plumage  worn  by  the  greater 
Romanticists.  Dennery,  who  appeared  on  the  scene  about  the 
middle  of  the  century,  possessed  something  of  Scribe's  con- 
structive skill.  His  melodramas  have  a  wonderful  vitality; 
two  of  them — Don  Cesar  de  Bazan  (1844),  and  Les  deux 
Orphelines  (1875)  (The  Two  Orphans) — have  been  popular 
exhibits  on  the  American  stage  in  comparatively  recent  years. 

Octave  Feuillet  (1821-90),  who  lent  a  hand  in  the  fiction 
factory  of  the  elder  Alexandre  Dumas,  is  best  known  to  Amer- 
icans through  the  translation  of  his  popular  tale,  Le  roman 
d'un  jeune  homme  pauvre,  and  the  play,  A  Parisian  Romance, 
to  which  the  late  Richard  Mansfield  gave  a  long  lease  of 
theatrical  life  by  emphasizing  the  character  of  Baron  Chevrial. 
Feuillet 's  reputation  rests  on  much  more  important  work — 
on  such  novels  as  M.  de  Cantors  (1867),  and  Julia  de  Trecoeur 
(1872),  which  disclosed  an  agreeable  sentiment  and  style,  and 
on  his  comedies  in  the  manner  of  Musset. 

The  comedy  of  the  mid-century  was  enlivened  by  the  fre- 
quent contributions  of  Delphine  Gay  (Madame  de  Girardin) , 
the  beautiful  and  brilliant  wife  of  Entile  de  Girardin.  At 
least  one  of  her  plays — which  include  Lady  Tartu  ffe  (1853), 
and  La  Joie  fait  Peur  (1854) — seemed  to  possess  a  value  that 
would  endure.  The  titular  character  of  Lady  Tartuffe  dis- 
closed an  uncommon  creative  power,  and  Madame  de  Girar- 
din's  humor  is  still  applauded  by  the  fastidious;  but  pos- 
terity has  proved  to  be  ungallant  and  neglectful  of  her  fame. 

Eugene  Labiche  (1815-88),  the  most  distinguished  pro- 
vider of  the  broad  farce  with  a  literary  flavor,  had  enter- 
tained his  audiences  for  many  years  before  Augier  discovered 
in  him  ' '  the  Grand  Master  of  Laughter. ' '  A  collected  edition 
of  his  plays  was  issued  in  1897,  and  the  following  year  the 
French  Academy  elected  him  an  Immortal.  There  cannot 
be  much  difference  of  opinion  as  to  the  literary  merits  of 
Labiche,  but  everybody  likes  him  because  of  his  inexhaustible 
and  infectious  humor  coupled  with  wholesome  common  sense. 

484 


THE    MODEKN   DRAMA 

It  is  generally  granted  that  his  vaudeville  was  a  great  ad- 
vance over  that  of  Scribe,  and  that  no  one  since  Moliere  in 
his  most  frivolous  mood  had  caused  such  tempests  of  laughter. 
Labiche  made  his  first  success,  in  1851,  with  Le  Chapeau  de 
Faille  d'ltalie;  one  of  the  funniest  and  best  known  of  his  in- 
numerable plays  is  Le  Voyage  de  M.  Perrichon. 

A  contemporary  writer  of  farces  was  Edmond  Gondinet 
(1828-88),  who  lacked  Labiche 's  powers  of  creation,  but 
whose  name  is  still  associated  with  the  gayety  of  the  French 
theater  in  the  nineteenth  century.  The  laughable  Gavant, 
Minard  et  Cie,  was  especially  characteristic. 

llldouard  Pailleron  (1834-99),  the  biographer  of  Augier 
and  a  poet  as  well  as  a  playwright,  occupies  a  higher  place. 
It  is  not,  alas !  in  America  alone  that  the  public  turns  a  deaf 
ear  to  true  merit;  in  Paris  also  one  sometimes  hears  the  ap- 
plause of  the  groundlings  prevail.  So  Pailleron,  during  a 
period  of  twenty  years  wrote  some  delightful  plays  that  met 
with  indifferent  success.  But  in  1881  (the  year  of  his  elec- 
tion to  the  Academy)  his  reputation  was  made  secure  with 
the  performance  of  Le  monde  ou  I' on  s'ennuie,  a  comedy  of 
exquisite  construction,  brilliant  wit,  and  telling  satire. 

For  the  twenty  years  from  1860  to  1881,  Ludovic  Halevy 
(1834-1908),  and  Henri  Meilhac  (1832-97),  supplied  the 
French  stage  with  some  of  its  most  joyful  entertainment  in 
the  form  of  operettas,  farces,  and  comedies.  In  1858  Halevy 
had  already  made  a  reputation  as  one  of  the  collaborators  in 
the  libretto  for  Offenbach's  Orphee  aux  enfers.  In  the 
first  ten  years  of  the  partnership  with  Meilhac,  they  jointly 
concocted  the  Offenbach  librettos  for  La  Belle  Helene,  Barbe 
Bleue,  La  Grande  Duchesse  de  Gerolstein,  and  La  Perichole, 
in  which,  under  cover  of  satirizing  social  sins  and  follies,  they 
displayed  an  aptitude  for  wit  that  bordered  on  indecency. 
Both  writers  were  Parisians  to  the  core,  and  their  gifts  of 
humor,  fancy,  and  imagination,  found  congenial  expression 
in  airy  sketches  such  as  Madame  attend  Monsieur,  Toto  chez 
Tata,  La  Boule.  Their  one  great  success  in  attempting  a 
more  serious  manner  was  Frou-Frou;  in  the  hands  of  the  ac- 
tress, Aimee  Desclee,  it  made  a  great  sensation,  nor  has  it 
yet  lost  its  vogue.  They  were  also  the  joint  contributors  of 
the  libretto  for  Bizet's  opera,  Carmen.  Upon  the  expiration 

485 


THE   HISTORY   OF   FRENCH   LITERATURE 

of  the  partnership  with  Meilhac,  Halevy  displayed  his  origi- 
nal gifts  in  two  remarkable  stories  of  the  Parisian  lower 
middle  class.  The  Cardinal  family,  in  Monsieur  et  Madame 
Cardinal,  and  Les  Petites  Cardinal,  have  become  by-words 
for  a  well-recognized  type.  Halevy 's  bid  for  an  orthodox 
reputation  was  L'Abbe  Const  antin  (1882),  a  kind  of  French 
"  Vicar  of  Wakefield  "  in  which  some  persons  profess  to  see 
a  classic,  but  which  is  in  reality  merely  a  wholesome  story, 
prettily  written.  As  one  of  the  French  novels  which  may 
safely  be  recommended  to  the  "  young  lady  "  for  whom 
Dumas  fits  disdained  to  write,  it  has  obtained  a  wide  circula- 
tion in  our  own  country.  Halevy  was  made,  in  consequence 
of  this  short  novel,  a  member  of  the  French  Academy  in  1888. 

If  Emile  Zola's  critical  endeavors  to  stir  the  dramatic 
pool  were  lacking  in  any  considerable  accomplishment,  his 
personal  attempts  to  storm  the  stage  were  even  less  effectual. 
Of  the  dramatizations  of  his  novels  only  Therese  Raquin  need 
be  noted  here.  As  John  Addington  Symonds  pointed  out 
long  ago,  Zola  in  his  novels  was  a  romanticist,  masquerading 
as  a  realist ;  and  so  in  Therese  Raquin  he  betrayed  himself  as 
a  genius  whose  power  was  employed  in  fashioning  a  repulsive 
melodrama  constructed  on  the  outworn  traditions. 

Henri  Becque  (1837-99),  was  a  realist  who  commanded 
the  technical  resources  of  the  stage,  and  left  his  impress  on 
the  younger  generation.  Disdaining  claptrap,  and  never  ob- 
truding his  opinions  in  the  puppets  he  infuses  with  life,  his 
plays  are  vital  with  truth  and  human  nature.  His  pessi- 
mism precluded  popularity;  yet  it  is  the  sort  of  pessimism 
we  find  interwoven  in  the  tales  of  the  great  English  novelist, 
Thomas  Hardy — a  pessimism  whicli  consists  in  regarding  men 
and  women  as  the  ironical  sport  of  Destiny,  and  is  not  forced 
to  fit  the  theories,  ideals,  or  arguments  of  the  playwright  or 
fictionist.  Becque  looked  to  life  rather  than  to  the  formulas 
which  the  dramatists  of  his  day  were  frantically  seeking; 
and  his  method  derives  less  from  naturalism  than  from 
Moliere  and  the  ancient  classical  writers.  He  was  a  long  time 
getting  a  hearing,  and  he  persisted  in  the  face  of  many  de- 
feats. L' 'Enfant  Prodigue,  a  vaudeville  first  performed 
in  1868,  is  replete  with  wit  and  clever  characterization. 
L'Enlevement  (1898),  a  problem  play,  paved  the  way  for 

486 


THE    MODERN    DRAMA 

Les  Corbeaux,  performed  at  the  Comedie-Frangaise  in  1882, 
and  La  Parisienne  (1885).  Of  these  two  comedies,  the  first 
named  is  concerned  with  an  impoverished  family  of  women 
who  fall  a  prey  to  human  vultures;  the  portraiture  is  admir- 
able, and  it  is  a  model  of  realism  at  its  best.  Neither  this 
play  nor  La  Parisienne — which  presents  the  domestic  "  tri- 
angle "  without  rhetoric  or  sentimental  gloss— was  a  popular 
success.  Becque  was  too  gloomy  and  too  outspoken  for  the 
Parisians.  But  time,  which  adjusts  these  matters,  has  decided 
that  both  plays  are  of  permanent  value. 

The  influence  of  the  Theatre  Libre,  founded  in  1887  by 
Antoine,  is  variously  estimated.  M.  Antoine,  together  with 
the  young  playwrights  of  the  new  school  who  rallied  around 
him,  sought  to  put  naked  realism  on  the  stage,  and  to  de- 
velop a  naturalistic  drama  free  from  conventional  device  and 
restraint.  The  first  performance  took  place  in  a  passageway, 
near  Montmartre,  known  as  the  Elysee  des  Beaux-Arts.  It 
may  be  interjected  that  this  apostle  of  realism  was  hospitable, 
in  the  beginning,  to  plays  of  other  and  diverse  kinds.1  It 
was  a  "  free  stage  " — independent  of  the  censor  because  it 
was  a  private  enterprise,  supported  by  subscribers;  and  so  a 
complete  test  of  the  new  dramatic  movement  could  be  made. 
This  test  seems  to  have  been  both  a  success  and  a  failure. 
Antoine 's  admirers  remind  us  that  most  of  the  celebrated 
playwrights  and  actors  of  the  last  twenty  years  served  their 
apprenticeship  in  his  theater,  and  that  many  of  the  German 
cities  have  successfully  emulated  his  example.  Gustave  Lan- 
son  recognizes  that  Antoine  has  taught  his  audiences  the  sense 
of  real  dramatic  imitation.  Other  critics  say  that  the  ex- 
periment did  not  proclaim  the  triumph  of  realism,  that  on  the 
contrary,  the  enthusiasts  of  the  Theatre  Libre  pushed  their 
theories  to  an  extreme :  the  representatives  of  the  ' '  eomedie 
rosse  " — Becque,  Ancey,  Courteline,  Jullien,  Metenier  and 
others — endeavored  to  dramatize  demoralizing  human  types 


1  Among  these  plays  were  La  Reine  Fiammetta,  by  Catulle  Mendes;  Le 
Baiser,  a  fairy  play  in  verse  by  Th.  de  Banville;  Une  Evasion,  by  Villiers 
de  I'lsle-Adam;  L'Ornement  des  noces  spirituelles  de  Rysbroeck  I' Admirable, 
of  Maeterlinck;  La  mart  du  due  d'Enghien,  by  Hennique,  and  La  Patrie  en 
danger,  by  the  brothers  Goncourt. 

487 


THE    HISTORY   OF    FRENCH   LITERATURE 

offensive  to  public  taste;  the  performances  of  the  free  stage 
became  gross  and  repulsive,  and,  after  eight  years  of  an  ex- 
periment that  attracted  wide  attention,  M.  Antoine  aban- 
doned it  for  a  time.  After  an  interval,  he  resumed  the  ex- 
periment with  considerable  modifications,  at  the  playhouse 
which  since  1897  has  been  known  as  the  Theatre  Antoine, 
which  some  persons  regard  as  the  most  interesting  theater 
in  Paris.1 

Many  of  the  plays  produced  at  the  Theatre  Libre  (where 
the  number  of  performances  of  any  one  piece  was  rigidly 
restricted)  found  a  welcome  elsewhere,  and  some  of  the  con- 
tributors to  its  stage  were  men  of  an  original  and  striking 
talent.  Frangois  de  Curel  reverted  rather  than  returned  to 
nature  when  in  La  file  sauvage  (1902),  he  placed  on  the 
stage  the  erstwhile  human  mate  of  an  orang-outang;  but  he 
gained  critical  approval  for  his  analysis  of  emotion  and  his 
dramatic  strength  in  L'Envers  d'une  Saint e  and  Les  Fossiles. 
Eugene  Brieux  has  come  to  be  accepted  as  a  satirist  of  a  cer- 
tain sort;  universal  suffrage,  charity,  and  law,  are  respec- 
tively the  targets  in  L'Engrenage,  Les  Bienfaiteurs,  and  La 
Robe  Rouge.  He  has  even  shot  his  bolt  (in  Les  Rempla$antes) 
at  the  practice  of  substituting  a  wet  nurse  for  the  mother. 
George  Courteline  and  George  Ancey,  in  Boubouroche  and  La 
Dupe  were  contrivers  of  a  humor  styled  the  ' '  comique  cruel. ' ' 
It  was  Courteline  who,  with  his  one-act  plays,  La  Paix  du 
menage  and  Un  Client  serieux,  gave  the  impulse  to  the  small 
theaters  now  so  numerous  in  Paris. 

The  Theatre  Libre  introduced  to  Parisians  the  plays  of 
Ibsen,2  Bjornson,  Tolstoy,  Hauptmann,  and  Sudermann.  Ib- 
sen 's  craftsmanship  was  quickly  recognized  and  applauded  by 

1  It  was  in  the  preceding  year,  1896,  that  M.  Antoine  undertook  to  ex- 
ploit the  social  drama  (in  which  M.  Leblond  perceived  the  redemption  of 
dramatic  literature),  producing  La  Guerre  au  village,  by  Trarieux,  and  other 
plays  of  this  nature. 

J  Peer  Gynt  was  produced  at  the  Theatre  de  1'GEuvre,  in  1896,  by  a 
company  under  the  direction  of  the  actor-manager  M.  Lugne'-Poe',  who  had 
previously  given  performances  in  London  of  other  plays  by  Ibsen,  notably 
Rosmersholm.  Le  Canard  Sauvage  (The  Wild  Duck)  was  put  on  at  the 
Theatre  Libre  as  early  as  1891,  but  it  is  only  lately  that  it  has  been  per- 
formed at  the  Ode"on. 

488 


THE    MODERN    DRAMA 

French  playgoers,  though  his  philosophy  and  mysticism  per- 
plex and  baffle  them.  In  what  measure  these  currents  from 
the  north  will  ultimately  affect  the  stream  of  French  dra- 
matic production  no  man  may  say;  they  have  at  least  exer- 
cised some  immediate  influence  in  modifying  the  native 
inclination  to  rhetoric  and  purely  theatrical  effects.  Paris  an- 
ticipated London  in  welcoming  Ibsen ;  and  M.  Augustin  Filon 
notes  with  emphasis  that,  following  upon  the  unfavorable 
attitude  of  Sarcey  and  Jules  Lemaitre,  "  John  Gabriel 
Borckmann  "  has  been  warmly  applauded  in  the  Journal  des 
Debats  by  Emile  Faguet,  and  that  the  Ibsen  influence  can 
clearly  be  traced  in  such  dramatists  as  Paul  Hervieu  and  de 
Curel.  M.  Filon  also  perceives  in  a  little  group  of  play- 
wrights of  whom  Hervieu  is  the  most  important,  an  intellec- 
tual and  moral  stimulation  derived  through  observation  of 
the  Theatre  Libre  experiments.  Of  this  group,  Henri  Lave- 
dan *  has  shown  proficiency  in  light  comedy ;  George  de  Por- 
to-Riche  has  revealed  in  Amoureuse  an  unsuspected  talent; 
Maurice  Donnay,2  in  Amants,  rather  more  than  in  his  other 
plays,  has  displayed  originality  and  charm  in  the  treatment  of 
an  old  theme.  Paul  Hervieu  (born  1857)  has  established 
himself  as  one  of  the  foremost  living  playwrights  of  France, 
and  has  written  two  notable  novels — Flirt  and  L' Armature. 
Les  Tenailles  ("  The  Nippers  "),  a  grim  and  terrible  drama 
of  marital  unhappiness  endured  for  the  sake  of  the  wife's  il- 
legitimate child,  afforded  a  hint  of  Hervieu 's  power.  A  later 
play,  Le  Dedale  (1903),  in  which  the  child  again  dominates 
the  theme  of  domestic  misery,  revealed  a  climax  bordering 
dangerously  on  the  melodramatic,  but  was  nevertheless  filled 
with  a  sincerity  and  animated  by  an  art  that  entitle  it  to  rank 
among  the  most  significant  dramatic  contributions  of  recent 
years.  Hervieu 's  treatment  of  the  problem  play  differs  from 
that  or  Dumas  fits,  inasmuch  as  he  does  not  thrust  the  moral 


1  The  first  of  the  Antoine  playwrights  to  win  success  in  the  regular 
theaters,  his  great  triumph  was  Le  Duel,  performed  at  the  The'atre-Francais. 
Of  his  Nouveau  Jeu,  which  gained  him  admission  to  the  French  Academy, 
a  Paris  critic  said  that  it  was  "de'collete'  jusqu"  £  la  ceinture." 

•  La  Patronne  is  the  latest  of  Donnay's  plays  and  La  Clairiere  the  joint 
production  of  Donnay  and  Descaves. 

489 


THE    HISTORY   OF    FRENCH   LITERATURE 

down  your  throat,  and  maintains  the  attitude  of  an  observer 
rather  than  a  preacher.  On  the  whole,  he  suggests  Becque 
rather  than  Ibsen.  He  has  not,  however,  escaped  the  impu- 
tation of  that  wordiness  which  disfigured  some  of  the  plays 
by  Dumas  fits.  This  appears  in  Les  Paroles  Restent,  La  Loi 
de  I'Homme,  and  in  that  singular  puzzle  play  which  has 
least  contributed  to  M.  Hervieu's  artistic  reputation — 
L'Enigme.  "  In  their  revolt  against  the  so-called  '  well- 
made  play/  "  remarks  Mr.  James  Huneker,  "  the  newer 
Parisian  dramatists  have  gone  to  the  other  extreme."  Rene 
Doumic  writes :  ' '  the  theater  is  becoming  the  vehicle  of 
social  predication:  every  time  an  author  is  inspired  with 
the  muse  of  Thalia,  he  finds  it  necessary  to  evolve  a  social 
question:  the  reform  of  the  family,  education,  marriage, 
divorce,  magistrature,  army,  finances,  penal  methods,  in- 
telligence offices  for  nurses,  what x  not.  If  our  society  is 
not  redeemed  it  is  not  for  the  want  of  having  exposed 
before  the  footlights  a  hundred  different  expedients.  .  .  . 
The  object  of  the  stage  is  not  to  preach  nor  to  create 
laughter,  it  is  to  portray  in  verity  the  customs  of  average 
society. ' ' 

Maurice  Maeterlinck,  poet,  essayist,  playwright,  was  born 
in  Belgium  (1862),  and  did  not  go  to  live  in  Paris  until 
1886;  but  he  is  properly  classed  among  French  writers.  His 
earlier  plays — vague,  formless,  mystic — were  written  to  be 
performed  by  marionettes ;  to  minds  unreceptive  to  mysticism 
they  remain  incomprehensible.  His  first  drama,  La  Prin- 
cesse  Maleine  (1889),  is  a  jumble  of  ideas  and  words,  scarcely 
more  coherent  than  his  early  volume  of  poems,  Serres 
Chaudes;  more  than  ten  years  of  evolution  and  dramatic 
symbolism  separate  it  from  the  lucid  and  impressive  Monna 
Vanna  (1902),  written  for  Madame  Maeterlinck.1  It  may 
be  said  of  this  play— of  almost  unrivaled  popularity  in 
Europe,  and  not  unfamiliar  to  the  American  public— that 
the  chief  obstacle  to  its  successful  performance  in  English  is 
the  difficulty  of  assembling  a  company  of  actors  adequate  to 
the  delivery  of  its  poetry  and  the  interpretation  of  its  heroical- 

1  Madame  Georgette  Leblanc,  the  famous  actress.     The  play  has  lately 
been  set  to  music  for  an  opera  by  the  composer  Henry  F6vrier. 

490 


THE    MODERN   DRAMA 

ly  wrought  characters.  Maeterlinck's  other  plays  include 
L'Intruse  (1890)  ;  Pelleas  et  Melisande  (1892),  beautiful  but 
bizarre  in  sentiment;  Smur  Beatrice  (1901)  ;  and  Joyzelle 
(1903),  a  love  story  in  which  the  playwright  has  returned  in 
some  measure  to  his  earlier  manner.  Maeterlinck  expressly 
eschews  action  in  the  plays  other  than  Monna  Vanna; 
11  theatre  statique  "  (as  opposed  to  the  dynamic)  is  the  term 
he  himself  applies  to  them.  He  is  ' '  rather  a  philosopher  who 
has  turned  dramatist  than  a  dramatist  who  has  turned  philos- 
opher," says  Arthur  Symons;  he  "  has  made  the  stage  at 
once  more  subjective  and  more  pictorial  than  it  ever  was  be- 
fore." A  word  of  digression  concerning  the  essays:  Maeter- 
linck has  described  his  philosophy  of  life  and  his  literary 
theories  in  his  three  works  Le  Tresor  des  Humbles,  La  Sagesse 
et  la  Destinee,  and  Le  Temple  enseveli.  Theater  goers  who 
turn  away  bewildered  from  the  dream  plays,  readers  to  whom 
mysticism  is  meaningless,  may  nevertheless  find  enchantment 
in  the  delightful,  perspicuous  pages  of  his  greatest  produc- 
tion, La  vie  des  abeilles — a  "  life  of  the  bee  "  that  discloses  a 
poet  and  thinker  equipped  with  the  magic  of  a  seductive  lit- 
erary style. 

Ten  years  have  passed  since  M.  Faguet,  speaking  for  criti- 
cism, found  himself  in  accord  with  popular  taste  in  pro- 
nouncing Cyrano  de  Bergerac  (1897),  the  finest  dramatic 
poem  in  fifty  years.  Edmond  Rostand,  its  author,  born  in 
1868,  was,  because  of  it,  acclaimed  a  genius,  and  four  years 
later — following  L'Aiglon — he  was  elected  a  member  of  the 
French  Academy.  In  ten  years,  however,  enthusiasm  cools, 
and  of  late  there  has  been  a  disposition  to  view  M.  Rostand's 
work  more  critically,  especially  as  in  L'Aiglon  (1900) — with 
its  interminable  recitations  and  its  curious  historical  perver- 
sities— he  did  not  sustain  the  expectations  aroused  by  his 
earlier  play.  Cyrano  de  Bergerac  is  not  perhaps  an  epoch- 
making  drama.  It  has  not  signalized  a  new  movement  to 
those  who  stand  anxiously  alert  for  a  sign  in  the  dramatic 
heavens ;  analysis  of  its  ethical  value  has  found  it  wanting  in 
the  elements  that  go  to  make  a  great  play.  Yet  its  captivating 
qualities  are  undeniable.  It  is  rife  with  capricious  fancy  and 
imagination,  and  blends  pure  joy  with  passages  of  engaging 
sentiment  and  telling  pathos.  Its  verse  is  verse,  not  the 

491 


THE    HISTORY    OF    FRENCH    LITERATURE 

poetry  of  great  poets,  but  of  its  kind  it  is  not  excelled  in 
grace  and  buoyancy,  and  it  has  this  especial  merit — that  it 
is  theatrically  effective,  with  none  of  the  monotony  peculiar 
to  the  traditional  Alexandrine.  Indeed,  it  is  quite  possible 
that  M.  Faguet  might  reaffirm  his  first  impression.  M.  Ros- 
tand, who  always  has  been  a  semi-invalid,  produces  little.  His 
plays  antedating  his  masterpiece  embrace  Les  Romanesques, 
La  Princesse  Lointaine,  and  La  Samaritaine,  and  display 
talent,  but  do  not  reveal  the  author  of  Cyrano  save  as  a  poet 
of  great  facility. 

Probably  no  play  has  been  so  much  talked  or  written 
about  before  its  production  as  Chanticler.  Its  long-delayed 
appearance  called  forth  many  satirical  comments  from  the 
anti-Rostandites :  ' '  "Whatever  the  beauty  of  the  work  may 
be,"  wrote  Henri  Mairet,  "it  is  impossible  that  when  it  is 
known,  it  will  bring  nearly  so  much  renown  to  its  author 
as  it  did  while  it  was  unknown.  The  author  therefore  has 
every  reason  to  keep  it  as  long  as  possible  in  a  concealment 
so  conducive  to  its  glory."  However  this  may  be,  Rostand, 
according  to  the  French  dramatist  de  Caillavet,  has  attained 
in  Chanticler  lyric  effects  as  good  as  in  the  best  of  his  former 
works,  and  some  poetic  flights,  but  no  dramatic  qualities.  The 
subject  of  the  play  was  suggested  by  the  Fowl  Congresses 
popular  in  the  literature  of  the  Middle  Ages.  The  title  Chan- 
ticler, is  Rostand's  adaptation  of  the  old  French  spelling  of 
Chantecler.  The  play  is  in  four  acts  with  a  prologue  in  verse, 
which  is  delivered  by  one  of  the  actors,  who  steps  before  the 
curtain  and  announces  that  it  is  a  play  of  animals.  The  chief 
character  is  the  Cock  (Chanticler),  who  takes  the  command- 
ing position  as  herald  of  the  dawn,  and  even  more  than  that, 
for  he  impresses  his  brother  fowls  to  such  an  extent  that  they 
believe  him  to  actually  command  the  dawn  which  appears  at 
his  summons. 

There  is  a  love  motive  very  delicately  managed.  In  fact, 
the  finest  quality  of  the  play — on  the  authority  of  those  who 
have  heard  passages  recited — is  the  lyrical  delicacy  of  han- 
dling, which  has  prevented  a  play  of  animals  from  being 
ridiculous.  The  heroine  is,  of  course,  a  hen,  and  in  a  more 
naive  time,  the  Norman-French  "  Parliament  of  Fowls  "  was 
received  with  complete  seriousness ;  but  the  times  have  changed, 

492 


THE   MODERN   DRAMA 

and  the  incongruity  of  cocks,  hens  and  dogs  speaking  mod- 
ern French  pentameters  is  only  too  easily  perceived  as  an 
element  of  humor.  So  far  as  the  reading  of  the  play  is 
concerned  this  incongruity  no  longer  strikes  the  persons 
most  concerned,  the  actors — for  there  is  no  doubt  about 
their  cordial  enthusiasm  on  the  subject  of  the  charm  of 
Chanticler. 

It  was  long  evident  from  certain  indications  in  the  plays 
and  from  private  utterances  of  Rostand  that  he  intended  to 
go  back  farther  in  the  atmosphere  of  the  drama  than  the 
time  of  Richelieu.  It  is  surmised  by  some  of  his  friends  that 
he  repented  of  I'Aiglon  as  too  modern,  and  as  a  French 
dramatic  writer  recently  said,  the  author  who  could  impose 
the  impossibility  of  Cyrano  on  the  audience,  and  make  a 
gallant  compose  a  complicated  ballade  in  the  act  of  the  ex- 
quisite feints  of  an  accomplished  master  of  the  fence,  could 
easily  go  farther  and  make  lyrical  addresses  to  the  sun  and 
to  all  the  powers  of  earth  and  heaven  coming  from  the  mouths 
of  fowls,  appear  probable. 

Chanticler  is  an  appeal  to  that  latent  romance  and  naivete 
in  the  minds  of  the  most  sophisticated,  which  make  the 
dreams  of  Maeterlinck  and  Rostand's  own  Princesse  Loin- 
tame  agreeable  in  this  over-analytical  age.  Brunetiere,  speak- 
ing of  such  poetry  as  Rostand  writes,  says  that  his  province 
was  to  take  us  out  of  ourselves  and  into  new,  unknown,  and 
ever-impossible  worlds.  In  Cyrano,  while  following  the  form 
of  drama  in  vogue  among  the  Precieuses  of  the  Hotel  de 
Rambouillet  and  reviving  their  spirit,  Rostand  captivated 
his  analytical  Parisian  with  an  impossible  world,  and  in 
Chanticler  he  revives  the  atmosphere  of  the  dramatic  fable, 
which  his  ancestors  in  France,  and  his  ancestors  in  Norman 
England,  looked  on  as  one  of  the  most  important  forms  of 
the  play,  and  threw  themselves  heartily  into  its  motives  and 
atmosphere.  The  play  as  read,  evidently  restores  this  atmos- 
phere, and  forces  the  hearers  to  be  of  it.  The  question  as 
to  whether  the  play-acting  can  produce  so  complete  an  il- 
lusion, cannot  be  solved  until  the  actors  speak  their  parts 
and  attempt  to  simulate  an  entirely  unreal  life  under  very 
real  conditions. 

The  passion  for  playgoing  in  France  has  created  a  health- 

493 


ful  appetite  for  performances  out  of  doors.  Theaters  in  the 
open  air  have  been  established  by  M.  Jules  Rateau  at  Peri- 
gueux,  and  Limoges;  in  the  mountains  at  Cauterets;  and  at 
Biarritz,  where  the  tragedy,  Phedre,  performed  in  the  sum- 
mer of  1907,  enjoyed  a  stage  setting  of  great  natural  beauty 
at  the  Theatre  de  la  Mer.  M.  Albert  Darmont  has  organized 
the  Theatre  Antique  de  la  Nature  at  Champigny-la-Bataille, 
and  produced  the  tragedy  by  Paul  Souchon,  Le  nouveau  Dieu. 
Souchon,  who  has  met  with  some  success  in  the  performance 
of  Phyllis,  in  verse,  announces  his  desire  to  create  a  modern 
tragedy ; *  and  Joachim  Gasquet,  in  his  prologue  to  his  an- 
tique tragedy,  Dionysos,  affirms  his  intention  to  renew  the 
cult  of  the  philosophical  and  religious  drama. 

The  Theatre  des  Poetes,  organized  by  Maurice  Magre  and 
his  followers,  and  devoted  almost  exclusively  to  the  romantic 
drama,  has  not  proved  an  unqualified  success;  but  it  has 
served  the  purpose  of  introducing  to  the  public  certain  play- 
wrights of  progressive  tendencies.  The  plays  produced  under 
these  auspices  include  L'Or,  by  Magre;  Imperia,  by  Jean 
Valmy-Boysse ;  La  Peur  d'aimer,  by  G.  Frejaville ;  and  Louis 
XVII,  by  G.  Frauchois. 

This  roster  of  modern  French  playwrights  is  far  from 
complete.  To  make  it  fairly  so  one  must  include  the  names 
of  Frangois  Coppee,  Jules  Claretie,  A.  Parodi,  E.  Bergerat, 
P.  Deroulede,  J.  Aicard,  G.  Ohnet,  A.  Bisson,2  Jules  Le- 
maitre,  J.  Jullien,  A.  Capus,3  L.  Gandillot,  G.  Feydeau,  Mir- 
beau,  Rivoire,*  Bernstein,5  Bourget,  Cury,6  and  others. 
These,  with  varying  degrees  of  merit,  and  representing  many 


1  A  new  tragedy,  La  Furie,  by  Jules  Bois,  was  lately  produced  at  the 
Th^atre-Francais. 

2  The  vaudevillist  whose  latest  play,  La  Femme,  is  considered  a  superior 
melodrama. 

3  L'Oiseau  blesse,  the  most  recent  of  Capus's  comedies. 

•  Le  ban  Roi  Dagobert. 

*  La  Rafale,  Samson,  Le  Voleur,  and  Israel,  some  of  Bernstein's  recent 
plays. 

•  The  joint  production  of  Bourget  and  Cury,  Le  Divorce,  a  vehicle  for 
the  expression  of  four  theories — orthodox  catholic,  free  love,  liberal 
thought,  and  toleration — which  find  eloquent  apologists  in  the  various 
characters,  caters  to  all  tastes. 

494 


THE    MODERN    DRAMA 

streams  of  tendency,  are  all  enrolled  in  the  Quarante  ans  de 
theatre  of  the  late  Franeisque  Sarcey.  The  list  might  easily 
be  amplified  by  enumerating  the  authors  of  certain  fairy 
plays — including  Richepin,  Lorrein,  Bouchor;  the  authors  of 
the  drama  injouable— unadapted  to  the  frivolous  public  taste ; 
together  with  the  playwrights  who,  in  varying  degree  and 
of  various  schools,  are  successfully  contributing  to  the  drama 
of  the  day.  But  their  place  at  present  is  a  subject  for  cur- 
rent criticism  rather  than  for  the  pages  of  a  book. 

Whether  or  not  the  drama  may  be  regarded  as  the  high- 
est form  of  literary  expression,  it  certainly  seems  to  be  the 
most  difficult,  and — in  its  successful  exercise  of  truly  great 
creative  gifts — the  rarest.  The  disproportion  between  the 
dramatic  productions  of  English  genius  and  the  contemporary 
development  and  output  in  other  branches  of  literature  is 
especially  noticeable  in  the  nineteenth  century,  so  rich  in 
poetry,  fiction,  and  scientific  works.  This  disproportion — in 
an  indeterminate  degree — exists  also  in  France:  the  French 
poets  and  novelists  of  that  century  outweigh  the  contents  of 
the  dramatic  scale.  There  is  nothing,  for  example,  in  the 
plays  of  this  period  made  of  such  enduring  stuff  as  the  tales 
of  Balzac  and  the  poetry  of  Hugo  and  Musset.  Excepting 
transcendent  genius — and  even  transcendent  genius  is  not 
wholly  free  from  the  reproach — there  seems  to  be  something 
in  the  practical  and  contemporary  requirements  and,  we  may 
add,  the  temptations,  of  the  stage,  that  pales  the  divine  fire, 
clips  the  wings  of  inspiration,  and  cheapens  the  art  of  the 
imaginant.  Can  this  be  so,  or  is  it  merely  an  inexplicable 
whim  of  nature  which  gives  us  not  so  often  as  once  in  a  cen- 
tury, a  man  who  unites  technical  dramatic  proficiency  with 
the  largest  gifts  of  literary  expression? 

It  is  only  within  the  last  fifteen  years  that  the  German 
and  Scandinavian  drama  has  to  some  extent  affected  the  pres- 
tige so  long  enjoyed  by  the  French  plays  in  the  theaters  of 
Europe  and  the  United  States.  This  has  a  special  significance 
in  view  of  the  decline  in  literary  value  noted  by  some  of  the 
Paris  critics,  who  declare  that  in  this  respect  the  French  stage 
is  deteriorating.  Two  expressions  invented  by  the  playwrights 
themselves  may  perhaps  be  taken  as  implying  their  recogni- 
tion of  the  situation:  "  Ce  n'est  pas  du  theatre  "  is  said  of 

495 


THE    HISTORY   OF    FRENCH   LITERATURE 

a  play  possessing  literary  and  dramatic  merit,  but  lacking 
qualities  that  would  make  it ' '  take  ' '  with  the  public ;  whereas 
the  affirmative,  "  c'est  du  theatre  "  is  employed  to  designate 
a  piece  obviously  destined  to  success  because  of  its  vul- 
gar gayety,  questionable  moral,  and  its  appeal  to  the  popu- 
lar emotions.  Not  "  will  it  play?  "  but  rather,  "  will  it 
pay  ?  "  is  the  uppermost  issue  of  the  hour.  It  is  customary  to 
blame  the  public  for  the  degeneracy  of  the  stage,  the  authors 
being  obliged  to  cater  to  its  taste.  "  Convenient  excuse!  " 
exclaims  Doumic,  "  the  public  has  never  prescribed  any  form 
of  art,  it  takes  what  is  given;  it  is  docile  and  needs  to  be 
guided.  It  has  that  need  more  than  ever  for  it  is  growing 
larger. ' ' 

The  future  of  the  drama  in  France  is  not  foreshadowed 
by  contemporary  productions:  no  supreme  master  points  the 
way,  and  no  considerable  body  of  dramatists  has  developed  a 
set  tendency.  Only  this  we  know:  that  a  century  has  passed 
rich  and  varied  in  achievement,  without  supplying  one  great 
and  enduring  addition  to  the  dramatic  literature  of  the 
world.  This  statement  holds  true  of  all  other  nations  with 
the  difference  that  their  dramatic  output  has  been  smaller  and 
poorer  than  that  of  the  French. 


CHAPTER   XXXV 

THE   FRENCH   PRESS 
THE  ORIGIN  OF  NEWSPAPERS 

WHEN  we  remember  that  the  Chinese  had  developed  a  lit- 
erature at  a  time  when  our  Anglo-Saxon  ancestors,  in  a  bar- 
baric state,  were  painting  their  skins  blue,  it  does  not  seem 
astonishing  that  the  Chinese  also  had  originated  the  art  of 
printing  as  early  as  the  sixth  century  of  the  Christian  era, 
and  that  the  Peking  Gazette— the  oldest  daily  newspaper  in 
the  world — dates  from  about  1340  A.D.  This  journal,  still  in 
existence  as  an  official  organ,  is  printed  from  wooden  types, 
just  as  it  was  in  the  fourteenth  century,  and  on  one  side  of  the 
paper  only,  with  a  colored  cover.  Strictly  speaking,  how- 
ever, it  affords  no  real  connecting  link  between  modern  typog- 
raphy and  journalism.  The  newspaper  is  the  product  of 
modern  civilization,  and  was  not  called  into  being  until  long 
after  the  discovery  of  the  New  World  had  opened  un- 
trodden avenues  of  trade  and  quickened  the  activities  of 
men.  The  first  newspaper,  in  the  actual  sense  of  the  term, 
was  the  weekly  Frankfurter  Journal,  established  by  Egenolph 
Emmel  in  1615;  and  the  example  set  by  Germany  was  soon 
followed  in  England,  in  1622,  by  Nathaniel  Butler  and  his 
associates,  in  the  founding  of  the  Weekly  News;  while  in 
France  journalism  began  with  the  Gazette  (1631).  Journal- 
ism did  not  become  a  power  till  much  later,  when  it  under- 
took to  inform  and  direct  public  opinion  through  the  medium 
of  the  "  leading  article  "  or  political  "  editorial."  This  had 
its  beginnings  in  England  early  in  the  eighteenth  century,  in 
the  stirring  times  of  Swift  and  Defoe ;  but  France  did  not  in- 
voke its  aid  till  the  Revolution  of  1789— Germany  following 
ten  years  later. 

The  progenitor  of  the  newspaper  was  the  letter  of  the  six- 

33  497 


THE    HISTORY   OF    FRENCH   LITERATURE 

teenth  century,  and  it  is  not  without  profit  to  note  its  in- 
fluence in  preparing  the  way  for  the  Press.  It  is  true  that 
the  Roman  Empire  had  produced  in  its  bulletins  a  sort  of  in- 
cipient journalism.  The  Ada  Diurna,  recording  the  achieve- 
ments of  the  army ;  the  Act  a  Senatus,  a  sort  of  Parliamentary 
report  incorporated  in  the  Government  Gazette  by  Julius 
Csesar ;  and  the  Ada  Publica,  which,  under  the  Imperial  sanc- 
tion, embraced  a  variety  of  statistical,  economical  and  fin  an  - 
cial  reports,  together  with  certain  matters  of  public  impor- 
tance: these,  indeed,  savored  of  a  newspaper.  We  may  even 
see  a  certain  analogy  between  our  modern  newspaper  bulle- 
tins, scanned  by  the  eager  crowd,  and  the  huge  affairs  set  up 
by  Ca?sar  in  public  places,  about  59  B.C.  But  the  time  was 
not  ripe  for  the  continuous  development  of  such  an  idea. 
It  must  needs  wait  not  only  for  Gutenberg's  discovery  of 
metal  types,  but  for  the  production  of  paper  in  sufficient 
quantity  and  of  sufficient  cheapness.  So  not  till  the  Renais- 
sance was  the  means  of  communication  between  persons  dis- 
tantly separated  accomplished  through  any  better  medium 
than  the  letter. 

After  the  discovery  of  America  the  need  of  news  and 
of  means  for  its  dissemination  became  insistent,  particularly 
among  men  of  business.  The  fashion  grew  of  writing  letters 
which  were  in  part  of  a  personal  nature  and  in  part  a  brief 
chronicle  of  important  events  occurring  within  the  writer's 
vicinity.  The  letters  had  obviously  a  great  value  and  in- 
terest. "  Scraps  "  or  "  supplements,"  "  nova  "  or  "  avise," 
as  they  were  called  in  the  various  countries  of  their  origin 
and  transmission,  these  precious  chronicles  of  war  and  trade 
were  so  passed  from  hand  to  hand  for  perusal  that  it  is  a 
wonder  any  of  them  remain  to  the  antiquarian. 

It  came  to  pass  that  in  Venice — a  news  center  for  Europe 
— the  Fogli  di  Avvisi,  or  news  leaflets,  took  the  form  of  a 
small  daily  sheet  put  forth  on  the  Rialto  for  the  price  of  a 
gazzetta — a  small  coin  equivalent  to  a  little  more  than  a  cent 
of  our  own  money.  Then  leaflet  and  coin  became  interchange- 
able terms,  and  to  this  day  in  Italy  the  newspaper  is  a  "  gaz- 
zetta."1 

1  At  a  later  period,  in  England,  toward   the   close  of  the  seventeenth 
century,  news  leaflets  made  up  from  the  news  of  the  coffee-houses  were 

498 


THE    FRENCH    PRESS 

At  Augsburg  the  Fugger  family  of  merchant  princes, 
whose  commercial  connections  kept  them  in  touch  with 
travelers  and  traders  everywhere,  were  constant  contributors 
of  news  letters,  some  of  which  are  still  preserved  in  the  Court 
Library  at  Vienna.  Melanchthon,  Luther's  collaborator,  was 
an  indefatigable  correspondent  at  Wittenberg.  From  his 
letters  and  from  Luther's  we  learn  that  when  some  bit  of 
news  was  of  special  interest,  it  was  not  infrequently  printed  on 
a  loose  sheet.  Such  a  letter,  bearing  the  date  of  1505,  and 
entitled  "  New  Paper,"  has  been  preserved;  but  the  designa- 
tion is  misleading  if  we  seek  to  connect  it  with  the  modern 
newspaper. 

The  news  letters  emanating  from  Venice,  Augsburg, 
Wittenberg,  Nuremberg,  Brussels,  Antwerp,  Frankfurt-on- 
the-Main,  and  Paris,  were  diversified  in  contents,  and,  con- 
sidering their  brevity,  conveyed  a  surprising  quantity  of 
information.  These  quasi-reporters  of  the  period  had  the 
"  nose  for  news,"  and  sometimes  a  taste  for  the  sensational 
not  unlike  that  of  our  contemporary  newspaper  makers  ad- 
dicted to  "  Extras  "  and  adjectival  debauches.  They  reveled 
in  "  bloody  rains,"  murders,  monstrosities,  and  mirages. 
They  kept  Christendom  on  edge  with  reports  of  the  victorias 
of  the  Turks,  whose  prowess  at  that  time  was  a  constant 
menace  to  Europe.  Letter-writing  had,  in  fact,  become  a 
trade,  and  many  of  the  "  avise  "  writers  were  regularly  paid 
for  their  services.  One  such  reporter  in  Cologne,  who  kept 
well  informed  concerning  the  Netherlands  and  France,  re- 
ceived an  annual  salary  of  two  hundred  guilders  from  Rudolf 
II. 

To  write  such  letters  was  comparatively  easy;  their  dis- 
patch and  transmission  were  attended  by  many  difficulties. 
Princes,  dignitaries  of  the  church,  the  monasteries  and  the 
towns — all  were  pressed  into  service  to  supplement  the  efforts 
of  the  merchants'  messengers.  Then,  in  1425,  Fillippo  Maria 
Visconti  organized  at  Milan  a  chain  of  ducal  relay  stations. 
Maximilian,  with  the  aid  of  the  Italian,  Ian  de  Sassis,  es- 

hawked  about  the  streets;  but  penny  journalism  had  no  sooner  showed  its 
head  than  it  perished  under  the  imposition  of  a  government  tax  of  a  half- 
penny per  sheet. 

499 


tablished  a  route  that  in  1491  connected  Milan  with  Inns- 
bruck; and  later,  under  the  management  of  Franz  of  Taxis, 
Innsbruck  was  linked  with  the  Netherlands. 

The  Taxis  family  pushed  their  enterprise.  A  line  of  relay 
stations  was  extended  to  the  French  and  Spanish  courts;  the 
system  was  put  in  operation  throughout  Germany.  Gradually 
the  service  ceased  to  be  monopolized  for  royal  purposes.  By 
1510  it  was  available  for  private  uses,  and  in  1595  Leonard 
of  Taxis,  was  appointed  Postmaster  General  of  the  Empire 
by  Rudolf  II.  Thereafter,  individual  efforts  to  maintain 
delivery  routes  were  abandoned,  for  the  Taxis  service  had 
come  into  general  use  in  Germany  and  throughout  much  of 
Southwestern  Europe. 

FRENCH  JOURNALS 

The  tumultuous  course  of  events  in  France  during  the 
past  three  centuries  has  been  a  decisive  factor  in  shaping 
French  journalism.  Its  evolution  has  not  been  as  continuous 
as  in  America  and  England,  and  the  circumstances  attending 
its  development,  no  less  than  the  idiosyncrasies  of  the  French 
character  and  temperament,  have  produced  a  press  which, 
measured  by  Anglo-Saxon  ideals  and  prejudices,  has  been 
limited  in  scope  and  achievement.  For  one  thing,  it  is  the 
nature  of  the  French  to  manifest  a  greater  interest  in  persons 
than  in  conditions  and  circumstances,  and  to  feel  a  deeper 
concern  in  some  distinguished  author's  opinions  of  a  subject 
than  in  the  subject  itself.  The  greater  the  violence  displayed 
by  the  several  exponents  of  a  theory  or  a  cause — culminating, 
perhaps,  in  a  duel — the  greater  is  the  joy  derived  therefrom 
by  the  French  public.  Moreover,  journalists  in  France  have 
been  compelled  by  law  to  sign  their  productions,  thereby 
placing  the  person  of  the  writer  in  a  position  of  peculiar 
eminence  unattainable  in  England  and  America,  where  all 
political  articles  appear  anonymously.  Hence  the  person  of 
the  French  journalist  has  enjoyed  a  significant  distinction. 
It  is  not  the  journal  for  which  he  writes,  not  L'Autorite,  or 
the  La  Libre  Parole,  but  he  himself,  Paul  de  Cassagnac,  or 
l^douard  Drumont,  who  constitutes  a  political  power;  and 
therefore  it  is  not  unusual  in  France  for  a  journalist  to  be 

500 


THE    FRENCH    PRESS 

called  to  political  position,  which  in  Germany  or  in  Austria 
would  be  wholly  out  of  the  question.  It  is  coming  to  be 
recognized,  however,  that  such  a  state  of  affairs  is  against 
public  policy.  For,  as  certain  critics  have  pointed  out,  the 
power  of  the  press  in  France  is  exercised  directly  upon  the 
Parliament  rather  than  upon  the  people,  so  that  it  is  possible 
under  the  prevailing  system  for  journalistic  adventurers  to 
shape  the  course  of  Government  without  reference  to  real 
public  opinion. 

Perhaps  the  principal  distinction  between  journalism  in 
France  and  that  in  England  and  the  United  States  has  been 
the  indifference  of  the  French  to  what  we  call  "  news," 
which  in  American  eyes,  especially,  is  the  first  essential  req- 
uisite. Until  recently  the  Parisian  has  been  content  if  his 
chosen  journal  provided  him  with  political  articles,  and  with 
that  species  of  brilliant  gossip,  criticism,  and  comment  in 
which  the  French  excel — above  all,  with  the  beloved  and  in- 
evitable feuilleton,  or  romance,  without  which  no  Parisian 
paper  could  go  to  press.  What  bread  and  the  circus  were  to 
the  Roman  populace  in  the  time  of  the  Caesars,  so  to  the  bour- 
geois and  his  betters  have  been  the  political  outpourings  of 
the  pamphleteers,  and  the  feuilleton,  in  its  various  expressions 
of  the  journalistic-literary  art,  from  the  time  of  the  first 
Napoleon  to  the  period  of  the  Third  Republic.  But  times 
change,  and  even  in  France  men  change  with  them.  Tradi- 
tions are  being  overturned  with  the  rise  of  the  democracy  and 
the  infusion  of  ideas  from  abroad.  The  faculties  of  imagina- 
tion and  fancy,  so  long  enthroned  in  the  intellectual  temple 
of  French  life,  are  giving  way  before  the  new  and  strange 
worship  of  facts,  and  the  common  mind  does  not  stop  at 
demanding  that  telegraphic  news  from  St.  Petersburg  shall 
actually  be  prepared  at  the  Russian  capital,  and  not  in  a 
boulevard  cafe. 

So  passes  the  glory  of  French  journalism.  For  the  news 
instinct,  once  aroused,  is  insatiable  and  terrible — growing 
with  what  it  feeds  upon.  "  The  news  of  last  week  under  the 
date  of  to-morrow  "  is  an  old  arraignment  of  the  Parisian 
press  that  may  presently  seem  obsolete  enough.  Even  the 
good  old  tradition,  that  a  dog  fight  in  Paris  is  more  important 
as  news  than  a  battle  in  America,  is  dying.  The  "  new 

501 


THE    HISTORY   OF   FRENCH   LITERATURE 

journalism,"  following  the  lead  of  the  Echo  de  Paris,  has  its 
correspondents  at  the  Continental  capitals,  as  well  as  in 
London,  and  the  political  utterances  of  the  most  reckless 
journals  are  coming  to  conform  in  some  measure  to  the 
actualities  of  the  news.  Even  the  Intransigeant  is  not  all 
Rochefort  since  it  has  become  an  evening  paper,  with  tele- 
grams; and  that  column  of  fag  ends,  the  Derniere  Heure  of 
the  morning  dailies,  is  in  a  fair  way  to  be  abolished. 

The  real  beginning  of  French  journalism,  is  found  in  La 
Gazette,  established  in  Paris  May  30,  1631,  by  Theophraste 
Renaudot,  physician  to  Louis  XIII.  It  was  a  periodical  news- 
paper written  in  manuscript,  in  imitation  of  the  Italian  news 
letters,  and  which  Renaudot  circulated  among  his  patients. 
The  aim  of  this  journal  was  to  espouse  the  interests  of  a  mon- 
archy hard  pressed  by  the  ambitious  nobility  of  the  Fronde ; 
and  Richelieu,  if  he  did  not  actually  inspire  the  project,  at 
least  became  its  patron.  The  great  Cardinal,  and,  after  him, 
Mazarin,  lent  it  their  active  cooperation;  Anne  of  Austria 
conferred  upon  its  editor  the  honorary  title  ' '  Historiographer 
of  Her  Majesty  ' ' ;  even  Louis  XIII  himself  contributed  brief 
articles,  and — like  a  child  enjoying  a  new  toy — sometimes  took 
them  in  person  to  the  printer  and  saw  them  set  up  in  type. 

Renaudot  had  many  enemies  to  contend  with,  not  alone 
among  the  French  nobility,  but  among  foreign  princes  as  well. 
Nevertheless,  La  Gazette,  consisting  of  eight  pages  in  small 
quarto,  grew  from  a  weekly  into  a  semi-weekly — ultimately 
into  a  daily.  A  page  was  reserved  for  advertisements,  and 
once  a  month  a  supplement  was  issued.  Goaded  by  his  ad- 
versaries who  sought  to  curtail  the  circulation  of  the  journal, 
Renaudot,  in  a  certain  issue,  published  this  defiance :  ' '  I 
hereby  request  all  foreign  princes  and  states  to  waste  no 
more  time  in  futile  attempts  to  bar  my  chronicles  from  their 
territory.  For  mine  is  a  ware  whose  sale  it  has  never  been 
possible  to  restrict,  and  it  has  this  in  common  with  large 
rivers — its  strength  grows  with  the  barriers  it  encounters." 

Renaudot  prevailed  in  the  end,  and,  dying  in  1653,  passed 
on  the  paper  to  his  sons.  In  the  political  storms  of  ensuing 
years  its  name  was  changed  more  than  once,  but  under  the 
title  adopted  in  1762 — La  Gazette  de  France — it  still  endures 
to-day,  the  organ  of  that  dwindling  little  band  of  Frenchmen 

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THE   FRENCH   PRESS 

who  constitute  the  survivors  of  the  old  Legitimist  party.  The 
files  of  the  paper,  from  the  first  number — more  than  three 
hundred  volumes  in  all — have  fortunately  been  preserved, 
and  are  an  invaluable  record  of  the  times. 

It  is  necessary  to  note  but  briefly  some  of  the  early  con- 
temporaries of  La  Gazette.  These  include  Loret's  rhymed 
Gazette  (1650-65),  containing  crude  but  vivid  pen  pictures 
of  the  period;  Le  Mercure  Galant  (1672),  afterwards  Le 
Nouveau  Mercure,  which,  still  later,  as  Le  Mercure  de  France, 
attained  in  1790  a  circulation  of  13,000  copies,  suspend- 
ing publication  in  1792,  and  thereafter  alternately  revived 
and  suppressed  till  its  final  suspension  in  1853;  Le  Journal 
Etranger  (expired  in  1763),  numbering  among  its  contrib- 
utors Rousseau,  Grimm  and  Prevost.  The  first  French  daily 
was  Le  Journal  de  Paris;  born  with  the  New  Year  of  1777, 
it  had  an  innocuous  career  for  half  a  century,  ceasing  to 
exist  in  1825. 

In  1789  Mirabeau's  Courrier  de  Provence  was  the  fore- 
runner of  a  veritable  rain  of  newspapers.  With  the  over- 
throw of  the  old  social  regime  and  the  "  Proclamation  con- 
cerning the  Freedom  of  the  Press,"  by  the  Powers  of  1791, 
the  highly  charged  atmosphere  spent  its  thunder  showers 
of  journals.  Marat's  most  violent  Ami  du  Peuple,  together 
with  L'Orateur  du  Peuple,  Le  Patriote  Francois,  La  Tribune 
du  Peuple,  Les  Revolutions  de  Paris,  were  among  the  countless 
ephemeral  newspapers  that  embraced  among  their  editors 
such  leaders  as  Robespierre,  Camille  Desmoulins,  Prudhomme. 
It  is  estimated  that  some  three  hundred  and  fifty  journals, 
including  seventy-three  political  publications,  were  pre- 
cipitated in  Paris  at  this  time.  Nearly  all  these  newspapers 
had  expired  by  the  fall  of  1793;  one  lived  till  late  in  the 
nineteenth  century;  two — Le  Moniteur  Universel,  and  Le 
Journal  des  Debats — have  survived  to  our  own  day. 

With  the  passing  of  the  Terror  the  reaction  set  in.  ' '  Let 
the  French  amuse  themselves  and  dance,"  said  Napoleon, 
"  and  let  alone  the  plans  of  Government."  We  see  him 
politely  pointing  out  the  frontier  to  Madame  de  Stael,  and 
ungallantly  retorting  with  an  arrow  from  her  own  quiver 
when  she  complained  that  he  had  no  respect  for  women: 
"  Madame,  art  is  sexless."  It  is  said  that  Napoleon  secretly 

503 


THE    HISTORY   OF    FRENCH   LITERATURE 

feared  and  admired  journalists,  and  even  solicited  their  sup- 
port. Nevertheless,  during  the  Consulate  sixty  political  papers 
were  suppressed,  and,  of  those  remaining,  thirty-nine  dis- 
appeared during  the  Empire,  so  that  in  1811  only  four  were 
left,  not  counting  La  Gazette,  Le  Journal  de  Paris,  Le  Moni- 
teur,  and  Le  Journal  des  Debats.  These  four  papers  were 
under  strict  censorship,  a  function  officially  reintroduced  by 
the  decree  of  February  5,  1810,  but  which  had  been  practi- 
cally in  existence  for  some  time  before.  Thus,  at  Napoleon 's 
instigation,  the  press  was  degraded  into  the  merest  tool. 
Henceforth,  politics  were  almost  completely  banished  from 
the  papers;  reports  on  music,  theaters,  balls,  festivals,  con- 
stituted their  principal  contents. 

After  the  fall  of  Napoleon,  during  the  Restoration  and 
the  July  Monarchy,  the  French  press  enjoyed  a  speedy 
renascence.  Almost  all  eminent  personages,  such  as  Thiers, 
Mignet,  Chateaubriand,  Rossi,  Tocqueville,  took  a  personal 
interest  of  some  sort  or  other  in  journalism,  and,  in  conse- 
quence, a  newer  and  finer  note  was  sounded  in  the  newspapers. 
The  most  brilliant  of  these  publications,  which  gloried  in  the 
display  of  a  subtly  academic  character,  was  the  Le  Journal  des 
Debats,  founded  in  August,  1789,  by  the  printer,  Baudouin, 
and  acquired  a  year  later,  for  twenty  thousand  francs,  by 
Louis  Bertin,  a  literary  man  of  means  and  good  birth.  It 
was  a  brilliant  success  from  the  beginning,  and  it  has  ever 
maintained  that  standard  of  literary  excellence  and  political 
character  and  stamina  which  led  Lamartine  to  say  that  it  had 
"  made  itself  part  of  French  history."  Even  Napoleon,  who 
tolerated  rather  than  approved  the  Debats,  did  not  work  it 
serious  injury  when,  finding  the  title  "  inconvenient,"  he 
caused  it  to  be  altered  to  Le  Journal  de  V Empire  (the  old 
name  was  resumed  in  1815),  or  again,  when,  under  the  threat 
of  a  special  censorship,  he  informed  Fievee,  one  of  its  editors, 
that  the  only  safe  course  was  "  to  avoid  the  publication  of 
any  news  unfavorable  to  the  Government,  until  the  truth  of 
it  is  so  well  established  that  the  publication  became  needless. ' ' 
Later,  with  Sylvestre  de  Sacy  as  editor,  a  journalist  whose 
exquisite  diction  was  united  with  a  dignity  and  reserve  un- 
impaired in  the  most  trying  circumstances,  the  Debats  was 
purged  of  all  petty  feuds  and  rivalries,  and  rose  to  a  power 

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that  did  not  wane  until  the  days  of  the  Third  Republic.  Then 
came  a  political  disruption  of  owners  and  readers,  just  as  in 
1815  a  similar  disagreement  had  led  to  the  founding  of  Le 
Const  it  utionnel.  Those  who  remained  at  the  helm  sought  to 
regain  the  prestige  enjoyed  under  Louis-Philippe  by  a  re- 
course to  popular  methods.  The  policy  of  the  paper  was 
changed  to  the  sensational,  the  price  reduced,  and  an  evening 
edition  was  brought  out  on  pink  paper.  But  these  methods 
only  succeeded  in  horrifying  the  old  clientele  without  alluring 
a  new  one.  To-day  the  Debats,  conservative  Republican,  of 
moderate  circulation,  sells  for  three  cents  to  all  who  still 
enjoy  a  journal  that  adheres  to  the  most  delightful  traditions 
of  the  French  press.  It  is  the  newspaper  in  which  Jules 
Janin  brought  the  feuilleton  to  the  highest  pitch  of  perfec- 
tion ;  in  which  Chateaubriand  addressed  ' '  Unhappy  France  ' ' 
and  the  Malheureux  Roi;  whose  contributors  have  included 
Guizot  and  Heine,  Renan,  and  Taine;  in  which  the  Baron 
Jacques  de  Reinach  conducted  a  financial  page  of  supreme 
integrity  and  authority — and,  for  the  first  time,  a  page  in- 
telligible to  the  public.  It  is  the  newspaper  which,  above  all 
others,  enrolled  among  its  writers  the  mental  aristocracy  of 
France,  so  that  de  Sacy  could  say  to  the  youthful  Renan, 
* '  Believe  me,  whoever  has  once  written  for  the  Debats  cannot 
remain  away;  it  would  be  a  misfortune  for  him." 

Cheap  journalism  in  France  goes  back  to  1836,  when 
Emile  de  Girardin  founded  La  Presse,  reducing  the  customary 
annual  subscription  price  of  eighty  francs  to  half  that  sum. 
Le  Siecle  followed  suit,  and  ten  years  later  had  become  the 
most  popular  paper  of  the  French  lower  middle  classes,  with 
a  circulation  of  more  than  forty  thousand;  in  the  Paris  of 
to-day  it  has  lost  its  importance.  The  Presse,  also,  which  in 
its  early  days  was  noted  for  its  vivacity  and  brightness,  and 
included  Balzac,  Gautier,  Hugo,  and  Sophie  Gay  (Madame 
de  Girardin,  author  of  La  Joie  Fait  Peur)  among  its  con- 
tributors, has  been  overtaken  by  mediocrity.  Within  recent 
years  it  was  conspicuous  in  Paris  as  an  example  of  French 
"  yellow  "  journalism;  it  is  even  said  that  our  most  flagrant 
American  journal  of  this  class  borrowed  its  headlines  from 
France — a  damning  indictment  we  are  unable  to  confirm. 
The  Presse,  however,  is  doing  penance  for  its  sins,  as  it  has 

505 


THE    HISTORY   OF   FRENCH   LITERATURE 

lately  been  absorbed  in  the  Roman  Catholic  newspaper  syn- 
dicate conducted  by  M.  Vrau  in  conjunction  with  La  Croix. 

The  immense  early  popularity  of  La  Presse  and  Le  Siecle 
was  attained  in  part  through  the  publication  in  their  feuil- 
letons  of  novels  by  Alexandre  Dumas,  Eugene  Sue  and  other 
distinguished  authors.  At  the  same  time  Le  Constitutionnel, 
established  early  in  the  Restoration  period,  was  revived  under 
A  the  direction  of  Dr.  Veron,  who  paid  Eugene  Sue  one  hundred 
thousand  francs  x  for  Le  Juif  Errant,  reduced  the  price  of  the 
paper,  and  engaged  Sainte-Beuve  as  literary  critic.  It  is 
worthy  of  note  that  this  amazing  literary  enterprise  of  three 
French  journals,  at  a  time  when  the  aggregate  of  subscribers 
in  Paris  was  but  70,000,  was  not  imitated  till  late  in  the  nine- 
teenth century;  and  then  not  by  individual  newspapers,  but 
by  a  syndicate  of  American  journals  which  published  novels  of 
minor  importance. 

La  Patrie  appeared  in  1842 — a  paper  originally  designed 
for  the  lesser  bourgeoisie,  and  degenerating  into  a  Chauvin- 
istic agitator.  The  poet,  Francois  Coppee,  and  the  Comtesse 
de  Martel  (Gyp),  have  helped  to  make  it  conspicuous. 
Le  National,  a  journal  founded  in  1830  and  now  forgotten, 
was  a  great  political  power  in  its  day,  and  helped  to  over- 
throw first  the  government  of  Charles  X  and  afterwards  the 
rule  of  Louis-Philippe.  The  revolution  of  February,  1848, 
like  the  first  revolution,  produced  a  great  crop  of  new  papers, 
some  of  them  with  names  similar  to  those  used  in  the  '90s. 
In  1848  no  less  than  four  hundred  and  fifty  new  journals 
appeared,  and  in  1849  two  hundred  more  were  started; 
but  an  ordinance  of  the  Second  Empire,  passed  February 
17,  1852,  disposed  of  most  of  these  petty  brawlers,  and  abro- 
gated the  freedom  of  the  press  which  the  Second  Republic 
had  reinstated.  In  1853  the  number  of  Parisian  daily  papers 
had  fallen  to  fourteen.  Chief  among  these  were:  Les  De- 
bats,  Le  Siecle,  La  Presse,  Le  Pays,  La  Patrie,  Le  Constitu- 
tionnel, L'Univers,  La  Gazette  de  France,  Le  Charivari,  L'As- 
semblee  Nationale,  L 'Union.  The  identical  conditions  exist- 
ing under  Napoleon  I  were  developed  under  Napoleon  III, 
whose  coup  d'etat  killed  Le  National  and  other  liberal  or- 

1  Scribe  received  six  thousand  francs  for  his  novel  Piquillo  Aliaga. 

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THE    FRENCH    PRESS 

gans.  Freedom  of  speech  was  practically  inhibited,  and  po- 
litical views  could  be  aired  only  when  properly  toned  down 
and  doctored.  The  subscription  list  of  Les  Debats  fell  from 
12,000  to  9,000 ;  that  of  La  Presse  from  25,000  to  15,000.  The 
papers  endeavored  heroically  to  cover  the  paucity  of  political 
material  by  amusing  feuilletons.  The  performances  at  the 
theaters,  actors  and  actresses,  the  belles  of  the  public  balls, 
scandals  of  high  life,  were  dissected  in  the  airiest  way,  and 
with  a  circumstantiality  and  sense  of  importance  that  would 
have  befitted  affairs  of  state.  Raconteurs  like  Jules  Janin  and 
Alphonse  Karr  developed  a  virtuosity  as  splendid  as  it  was 
striking,  in  the  recounting  of  this  small  talk. 

The  relative  circulation  of  the  six  principal  newspapers 
in  Paris  in  1858  was  in  this  order:  Le  Siecle,  La  Presse,  Le 
Constitutional,  La  Patrie,  Les  Debats,  L'Assemblee  Natio- 
nale.  The  number  of  journals,  so  greatly  diminished  in  1853, 
was  again  augmented  in  the  '60s,  owing  to  the  pecuniary  suc- 
cess of  Girardin's  commercialism,  which  lowered  the  tone  of 
the  press,  just  as  sensational  methods  have  affected  our  own 
American  press  to-day.  The  most  admirable  papers  of  the 
traditional  style  made  the  least  money.  The  times  were  ripe 
for  Le  Figaro  (1854),  and  for  Rochefort's  Lanterne  (the 
weekly  pamphlet,  1868;  the  daily  paper,  1877),  which  marked 
the  return  to  power  of  the  political  press.  The  few  other  im- 
portant papers  established  during  the  eighteen  years  of  the 
Second  Empire  were  Le  Temps  (first  founded  in  1829 — dis- 
continued 1842 — reappeared  1861),  La  France  (1862),  Le 
Petit  Journal  (1863),  Le  Gaulois  (1866).  During  the  closing 
days  of  the  third  Napoleon's  reign  the  press  received  a  new 
impetus,  and  many  political  papers  of  more  or  less  vitality, 
such  as  Le  Rappel,  La  Marseillaise,  and  Le  Journal  de  Paris, 
appeared.  The  revolution  of  September,  1870,  also  called 
forth  its  quota  of  new  journals,  as  in  1848,  and  the  insurrec- 
tion of  the  Commune  similarly  evoked  a  journalistic  ephemera 
that  flourished  for  a  day  and  passed  from  view. 

A  curious  phenomenon  of  French  journalism  is  the  one- 
man  paper,  which  owes  its  amazing  influence  and  popularity 
to  the  truculence  of  its  editor,  and  his  capacity  for  amusing 
and  original  abuse.  Its  foremost  exponent  is  Victor  Henri, 
Marquis  de  Rochefort-Lugay,  commonly  known  as  Henri 

507 


THE    HISTORY   OF    FRENCH   LITERATURE 

Rochefort,  born  in  1830,  and  who,  after  more  than  forty 
years  of  extravagant  denunciation  and  political  somersault- 
ing, has  not  quite  exhausted  his  vocabulary  of  invective  or 
his  capacity  for  inconsistency.  Aristocrat  by  birth,  idol  of 
the  cabman  and  the  waiter,  a  professional  opponent  of  the 
Government,  assailant,  by  turns,  of  the  Emperor  and  the 
army,  the  church,  and  the  Jew,  a  duelist  of  renown,  a  po- 
litical exile  to  whom  prison  and  transportation  have  been  the 
alternate  episodes  of  a  triumphant  career — Henri  Rochefort 
has  thrived  on  excitement.  We  can  conceive  of  no  one  to 
whom  the  newspaper  "  Interviewer  "  might  put  with  more 
relish,  if  with  questionable  profit,  the  perennial  question, 
"  To  what,  venerable  sir,  do  you  attribute  your  longevity?  " 
The  records  of  serene  senility  will  not  be  complete  without 
it.  Henri  Rochefort  has  not  perhaps  greatly  enriched  the 
dictionary  of  the  Academy,  but  American  and  British  visi- 
tors in  the  French  capital  insist  that  the  cabman  has  found 
in  him  a  constant  source  of  comfort  and  inspiration.  To 
attempt  more  than  the  briefest  recountal  of  his  tempestuous 
career  would  make  his  place  in  these  pages  seem  dispropor- 
tionate. His  peculiar  genius  first  illuminated  the  pages  of 
Le  Charivari.  In  the  '60s  we  see  him  as  ' '  chroniqueur  "  to  Le 
Figaro,  expanding  with  a  verbal  intemperance  which  pres- 
ently caused  the  conversion  of  that  paper  from  a  sheet  for 
the  delectation  of  the  "  boulevardier  "  to  an  avowed  political 
journal.  He  received  at  that  time  an  annual  salary  of  thirty 
thousand  francs.  Many  years  later,  in  1896,  it  transpired  in 
court  proceedings  that  Rochefort  of  L'Intransigeant  had,  since 
1889,  drawn  as  editor  and  shareholder,  a  sum  equivalent  to 
three  hundred  and  forty-two  thousand  francs  a  year.  A 
tyrannical  government  has  at  various  times  suppressed  the 
property  and  sequestered  the  person  of  this  blue-blooded  ami 
du  peuple,  though  without  permanent  effect.  It  was  to  save 
Le  Figaro  from  seizure  that  he  left  its  service  in  1865  and 
started  La  Lanterne,  printed  on  pink  paper,  which  was  other 
than  a  symbol  of  propriety.  Its  first  nine  weekly  issues 
reached  a  circulation  of  more  than  1,150,000  copies,  when 
the  Government  forbade  its  further  publication  in  Paris,  and 
M.  Rochefort  took  it  with  him  to  Brussels.  It  now  flourishes 
in  Paris  as  a  rabid  organ  of  the  anti-clericals.  On  his  return  to 

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THE    FRENCH   PRESS 

Paris  in  1880,  after  one  of  his  temporary  eclipses— it  was  New 
Caledonia,  London,  and  Geneva  this  time— M.  Rochefort  took 
charge  of  the  radical  Intransigeant,  which,  with  some  inter- 
ruptions, including  the  Boulanger  episode  of  exile,  he  con- 
tinues to  direct.  Some  critics  have  compared  M.  Rochefort  to 
Mirabeau ;  others  content  themselves  with  an  expletive  or  two 
from  his  own  thesaurus. 

We  have  approached  that  period,  already  alluded  to,  in 
which  we  observe  the  radical  transformation  of  the  French 
press  from  a  literary  supplement  or  feuilleton,  plus  the  news 
and  a  broadside  of  opinion,  to  a  newspaper  in  which  the  news 
threatens  to  predominate.  It  does  not  seem  likely  that  the 
literary  character  of  French  journalism  at  its  best  shall  be 
really  lost.  It  is  even  reasonable  to  suppose  that  from  the  ad- 
justment of  new  and  old  conditions  there  may  arise  an  ideal 
press  combining  accuracy  and  freshness  of  information  with 
the  sprightliness,  fancy,  and  grace  of  presentation  with 
which  the  Parisian  writer  so  happily  clothes  the  most  trivial 
of  occurrences.  Dullness  is  not  in  the  blood  of  the  French- 
man. If  at  times  life  is  not  gay,  why  then  it  becomes  to  him 
too  serious  to  be  taken  seriously.  One  thing  seems  sure:  if 
the  journal  d' in  formations  kills  the  journal  of  the  feuilleton, 
it  must  first  kill  the  Parisian's  wit  and  taste,  and  inherent 
gayety  of  disposition.  A  Frenchman  who  does  not  want  to 
be  amused  is  almost  as  inconceivable  as  a  Frenchman  who 
would  find  amusement  in  the  banalites  of  our  "  yellow  " 
journalism,  or  in  the  dullness  of  its  more  respected  contem- 
poraries. 

The  causes  that  have  brought  about  the  radical  changes 
in  the  French  press  within  the  last  few  years  are  open  to 
speculation.  Some  observers  ascribe  them  to  the  less  leisurely 
ways  of  life  in  the  French  capital,  as  expressed  especially  in 
rapid  transit.  A  significant  factor,  too,  is  the  growth  of  re- 
publican ideas,  which  in  removing  restrictions  from  the  press, 
have  left  it  free  to  extend  its  functions  as  a  purveyor  of  news 
and  opinions.  The  feuilleton,  it  is  recalled,  was  a  device  of 
Bertin,  owner  of  the  Debats,  and  he  was  inspired  to  employ 
it,  in  1800,  because  under  the  despotic  rule  of  Napoleon,  it 
was  not  possible  to  publish  a  newspaper  otherwise  than  in- 
nocuous, or,  in  other  words,  devoid  of  information  and  opin- 

509 


THE    HISTORY   OP    FRENCH   LITERATURE 

ion.  The  tradition  of  the  feuilleton  has  held,  and  recurring 
periods  of  restriction  have  continued  to  impose  it  somewhat 
disproportionately  upon  a  public  awakening  more  and  more 
to  the  means  for  the  diffusion  of  news.  As  yet,  journalistic 
polemics — a  euphemism  when  applied  to  the  one-man  jour- 
nals— have  precedence;  but,  as  it  is  not  possible  always  and 
ever  to  defy  facts,  the  publication  of  the  news  is  beginning 
to  exercise  a  wholesome  influence  on  those  editors  who  have 
heretofore  found  it  convenient  to  ignore  them. 

When  we  come  to  catalogue  the  contemporary  newspapers 
of  Paris,  the  task  at  first  sight  seems  appalling.  The  period 
has  not  yet  passed  in  France  when  one  can  found  a  newspaper 
with  no  more  substantial  capital  than  an  original  talent  for 
vituperation  and  printer's  ink  enough  for  your  limited 
edition.  In  the  United  States  the  projection  of  a  newspaper 
in  any  considerable  city  is  an  undertaking  of  pecuniary  con- 
sequence. It  must,  in  the  first  place,  print  the  news ;  and  this, 
provided  the  thing  can  be  done  at  all,  with  the  assistance  of 
an  Associated  Press  franchise — involves  a  large  outlay.  But 
in  Paris  a  journal  may  be  the  impulsive  creation  of  a  poli- 
tician with  a  grievance,  of  a  free  lance  who  has  found  a  pa- 
tron, or  a  pamphleteer  who  finds  it  profitable  to  espouse  a 
cause  or  to  denounce  an  idea.  The  so-called  news  service  of 
the  ' '  Agence  Havas  ' '  is  easily  and  cheaply  procured ;  two  or 
three  reporters  constitute  the  staff.  For  the  rest,  it  is  the 
editor's  own  personality  that  counts;  and  the  journal  is  born, 
and  sometimes  achieves  a  circulation,  with  little  travail.  Thus, 
in  the  Paris  of  recent  years,  as  in  certain  former  periods  we 
have  noted,  the  ephemeral  fraction  of  the  press  may  be  lik- 
ened, in  its  multiplicity,  to  a  swarm  of  flies.  Newspapers  ap- 
pear and  disappear,  change  their  political  opinions,  pass  from 
one  owner  to  another,  from  morning  to  evening  editions,  with 
a  rapidity  that  is  mystifying  to  the  Anglo-Saxon  looker  on. 
Moreover,  the  Paris  press  is  in  a  state  of  transition,  and  of 
such  quick  transition  that  five  years  of  its  record  becomes 
a  cycle  in  significance. 

No  less  than  2,400  newspapers  were  published  in  France 
in  1900,  of  which  240  appeared  in  Paris,  including  146  dailies 
of  all  descriptions.  In  1903  the  number  of  the  Parisian  polit- 
ical daily  organs  is  placed  by  one  authority  at  sixty,  in  round 

510 


THE   FRENCH   PRESS 

numbers.  In  circulation  these  journals  vary  from  the  500 
lithographed  sheets  (distributed  to  as  many  newspapers 
throughout  France)  of  La  Correspondance  Nationale  et 
Nouvelles — official  organ  of  the  Due  d 'Orleans — to  Le  Petit 
Journal,  variously  credited  with  a  daily  issue  of  from 
1,000,000  to  1,250,000  copies.  This  paper  of  the  populace, 
founded  by  Millaud  in  1863,  was  the  precursor  of  the  penny 
press.  Millaud  had  the  knack  of  providing  the  sort  of  cheap 
and  entertaining  reading  relished  by  the  concierge  and  the 
ouvrier.  Not  only  in  Paris,  but  in  all  the  little  towns  of 
France,  it  was  especially  made  welcome  in  the  homes  of  the 
humble.  If  its  business  agents  were  Americans,  they  would 
say  it  had  become  a  "  household  word."  It  does  not  meddle 
much  in  politics,  preferring  the  safe  course  of  offending  no 
one.  Yet,  it  is  not  without  great  political  influence,  with  the 
strength  of  such  a  constituency  behind  it.  The  control  of  Le 
Petit  Journal  passed  long  ago  from  Millaud  to  Marinoni,  in- 
ventor of  the  rotary  printing  press,  and  finally  to  Senator 
Privet,  a  Nationalist.  On  one  of  the  few  occasions  when  it 
took  a  political  stand,  and  opposed  the  cause  of  Dreyfus,  it 
suffered  in  popularity.  Senator  Jean  Dupuy,  former  Minis- 
ter of  Agriculture  and  principal  owner  of  Le  Petit  Parisien, 
perceived  his  opportunity,  and  his  paper,  which  had  relied 
on  the  patronage  of  the  cabman  and  market  gardener,  was 
enlarged  to  six  pages  and  soon  became  a  formidable  rival  of 
Le  Petit  Journal,  reaching  a  circulation  of  700,000  copies  a 
day  at  the  beginning  of  this  century. 

But  Le  Matin,  dating  from  1884,  and  devoting  more  at- 
tention to  news  than  to  politics,  is  the  paper  most  significant 
of  the  new  journalism  in  France.  It  rose  from  the  ruins  of 
The  Morning  News,1  the  unsuccessful  venture  of  the  Ameri- 

1  When  James  Gordon  Bennett  founded  the  Paris  Herald  it  gave  the  coup 
de  grace  to  The  Morning  News  and  Galignani's  Messenger.  No  less  a  person 
than  Thackeray  was  once  a  subeditor  on  Galignani's  Messenger.  He  refers 
to  it  in  a  letter  to  Mrs.  Brookfield,  in  1848,  in  which  he  speaks  of  an 
old  acquaintance,  a  Mr.  Longueville  Jones,  as  "an  excellent,  worthy,  ac- 
complished fellow.  .  .  .  We  worked  on  Galignani's  Messenger  for  ten 
francs  a  day  very  cheerfully,  ten  years  ago."  It  was  in  those  days  that 
Thackeray  gathered  his  notes  for  his  Paris  Sketch  Book  and  the  Ballad  of 
Bouillabaisse. 

511 


THE    HISTORY   OF    FRENCH   LITERATURE 

can  dentist,  Dr.  Thomas  Evans,1  and  was  viewed  as  a  trans- 
Atlantic  enterprise.  Regarded  as  the  competitor  of  the 
Paris  edition  of  the  New  York  Herald,  and  by  some  per- 
sons identified  with  its  ownership,  Le  Matin  was  until  recently 
looked  upon  as  a  somewhat  nondescript  publication.  To-day 
it  takes  the  lead  in  the  printing  of  foreign  news,  and  is  en- 
gaged in  the  promotion  of  such  adventures  as  the  Pekin-Paris 
automobile  race.  It  has  likewise  enlisted  the  services  of  many 
distinguished  contributors  on  current  topics,  and,  with  M. 
Hugues  Leroux,  took  a  leading  part  in  the  campaign  for  the 
correction  of  certain  misconceptions  supposed  to  be  enter- 
tained in  England  and  the  United  States  respecting  the  char- 
acter of  French  literature.  Le  Matin  is  owned  by  a  company 
under  the  control  of  M.  Bunau-Varilla,  brother  of  the  distin- 
guished engineer,  and  is  edited  by  M.  Stephane  Lauzanne, 
nephew  of  the  late  M.  de  Blowitz.  A  rival  and  imitator  of 
Le  Matin  is  the  anti- Anglo-Saxon  L'Eclair.  It  has  also  a 
competitor,  both  in  news  and  circulation,  in  Le  Journal, 
which  is  one  of  the  important  moderate  Republican  morning 
dailies ;  it  reached  an  enviable  standard  of  literary  excellence 
under  the  editorship  of  the  late  Ferdinand  Xau,  and  in  ex- 
ploiting the  news  it  has  not  suffered  a  decline  in  ideals.  Its 
present  owner  is  a  rich  Government  contractor,  M.  Letellier. 
L'ficho  de  Paris,  an  organ  of  Nationalism,  and  originally  a 
competitor  of  Le  Gil  Bias,  has  enrolled  itself  among  the  jour- 
naux  d'in formations,  and  is  credited  with  an  excellent  for- 
eign news  service. 

It  is  scarcely  possible  to  recount  in  a  paragraph  the  sin- 
gular vicissitudes  and  varied  characteristics  of  that  chame- 
leon of  Parisian  journalism,  Le  Figaro.  A  gay  cynicism  and 
a  buoyant  determination  to  keep  its  columns  free  from  the 
hampering  shackles  of  principles  and  views  have  marked  its 
erratic  and  entertaining  career.  "  The  policy  of  the  paper  " 
— vague  and  formidable  phrase — is  assumed  to  represent, 
more  or  less  concretely,  the  form  and  direction  of  the  moral 
and  political  vehicle  we  call  journalism,  as  impelled  by  cer- 

1  It  was  Dr.  Evans  who,  after  the  fall  of  the  Second  Empire,  helped  the 
Empress  Euge'nie  to  reach  Sir  John  Burgoyne's  yacht,  in  order  that  she 
might  take  refuge  in  England. 

512 


THE   FRENCH   PRESS 

tain  individuals  of  avowed  responsibility.  But  to  have  no 
policy  at  all,  and  not  to  deny  it,  is  vastly  more  convenient, 
and,  not  infrequently,  less  hypocritical.  When  we  say  that 
Le  Figaro  has  been  thus  unrestricted,  a  good  deal  is  ex- 
plained. When  we  add  that  its  primary  function  has  been 
to  amuse  and  to  shock,  and  that  no  one  takes  it  over- 
seriously,  its  influence  can  be  better  estimated  and  under- 
stood. It  is,  of  all  Parisian  journals,  the  best  known  to  the 
foreigner;  and  it  appears  to  the  Briton  and  the  American 
(who,  as  a  rule,  know  only  that  side  of  it),  to  be  typical  of 
the  French  temperament. 

De  Villemessant,  a  semi-illiterate  adventurer  and  journal- 
istic genius,  who  refounded  Le  Figaro  in  1854,  and  turned  it 
into  a  daily  twelve  years  later,  had  the  courage  of  his  lack 
of  convictions.  He  understood  the  weaknesses  of  human  na- 
ture, and  the  foibles  of  his  countrymen;  and  he  played  upon 
them  adroitly.  The  world  to  him  was  a  fancy-dress  ball,  and 
he,  the  master  of  ceremonies,  wore  the  most  ingenious  cos- 
tume. In  the  early  '70s  we  see  him,  as  it  were,  two  persons  at 
once — half  his  head  shaved  into  the  likeness  of  a  monk,  the 
other  half  of  it  painted  to  resemble  Harlequin.  A  Legitimist 
praying  for  the  restoration  of  "  le  roi,"  he  intoned  a  chant 
that  brought  him  the  patronage  of  the  pious ;  a  Merry  Andrew, 
with  suggestive  wink,  the  ultraworldly  thrived  on  the  enter- 
tainment he  provided  them.  It  is  said  that  when  Louis  Veu- 
illot  proclaimed  his  Univers  as  the  greatest  organ  of  Catho- 
licity, de  Villemessant  flourished  his  subscription  list,  with  the 
offer  to  wager  that  it,  and  not  Veuillot's,  contained  the  greater 
number  of  clerical  names.  And  the  bet  was  not  taken  up. 
De  Villemessant  undoubtedly  made  his  paper  readable.  To 
this  end  he  secured  the  services  of  the  most  brilliant  writers 
of  the  moment,  dropping  them  quickly  when  they  had  served 
his  turn.  He  exploited  the  imitators  of  Eug&ne  Guinot  (who 
had  revived  the  Chronique  system)  ;  Jules  Janin,  Karr,  About, 
Fouquier,  and  Albert  Wolff — a  German  who  wrote  admirably 
in  French,  and  a  celebrated  chronicler  of  Le  Figaro.  On  the 
theory  "  tout  homme  a  un  article  dans  le  ventre  "  (every 
man  knows  something  he  can  write  about) ,  he  one  day  pressed 
a  chimney-sweep  into  his  service,  and  somehow  extracted  from 
him  an  article  that  aroused  the  curiosity  of  Paris.  He  was 
84  513 


THE    HISTORY   OF    FRENCH   LITERATURE 

all  things  to  all  men,  and  nothing  long  by  turns.  His  suc- 
cessor, Francis  Magnard,  upheld  the  traditions  ably;  and 
the  foremost  journal  of  the  boulevards  shone  with  even  a 
brighter  luster.  In  his  personal  contributions  to  the  paper 
he  brought  to  perfection,  says  one  critic,  "  the  art  of  jumping 
with  the  cat."  Also  he  procured  the  assistance  of  the  ablest 
writers  of  the  day,  including  Jules  Simon,  and  in  other  ways 
maintained  the  journal 's  popularity.  It  is  only  in  recent  years 
that  this  popularity  has  suffered.  One  cannot  always  "  jump 
with  the  cat."  In  the  days  of  the  bitter  Dreyfus  controversy, 
the  new  editors  of  Le  Figaro,  with  de  Rodays  as  the  chief,  at- 
tempted the  still  more  difficult  feat  of  holding  with  the  hare 
and  running  with  the  hounds.  In  their  brief  championship 
of  Zola  and  Dreyfus  they  erred  in  their  observation  of  the 
public's  attitude,  and  though  a  quick  change  of  front  was  ef- 
fected, Le  Figaro's  circulation  was  diminished.  To-day  it  is 
under  the  control  of  Gaston  Calmette,  and  is  reported  to  be 
recovering  its  ground.  Le  Figaro  has  not  lost  its  animation 
of  tone.  Perhaps  like  its  progenitor,  the  hero  of  Beaumar- 
chais,  if  it  ever  becomes  wholly  virtuous  it  will  also  be  dull. 
Lacking  the  "  esprit  gaulois  "  of  Le  Figaro,  and  yet  re- 
garded in  a  measure  as  a  rival,  is  that  boulevard  journal,  Le 
Gaulois,  born  to  the  Royalist  purple  in  1866,  with  Henri  de 
Pene  as  sponsor,  and — under  Arthur  Mayer,  its  editor  to-day 
—a  doughty  champion  of  the  Church  and  the  Due  d 'Orleans. 
M.  Mayer  is  something  of  an  anomaly.  A  Jew  himself,  his 
journal  is  anti-Semitic.  Snubbed  by  the  Pretender  to  the 
throne,  he  defends  him  and  proclaims  his  cause  none  the  less 
zealously.  A  rich  man,  he  has  not  lost  his  enthusiasm  or  his 
relish  for  work.  Le  Gaulois  is  the  favorite  paper  of  the  Fau- 
bourg St.  Germain,  and  this  is  some  compensation  to  M. 
Mayer  for  the  duke's  eccentric  behavior  in  advocating  an 
alliance  with  perfidious  Albion.  Another  imperialistic  paper 
is  L'Autorite,  of  Paul  de  Cassagnac,  duelist  and  pamphleteer. 
He,  too,  is  against  the  Government  and  the  Jew ;  but  a  milder 
and  saner  type  than  the  more  optimistic  Mayer.  With  a  sen- 
timental regard  for  the  setting  sun  of  monarchy  is  Le  Soleil, 
spokesman  of  the  Orleanists,  a  journal  which  shone  resplen- 
dent under  the  direction  of  the  late  Edouard  Herve,  a  mem- 
ber of  the  French  Academy.  With  Jules  Lemaitre  and  Fran- 

514 


THE   FRENCH   PRESS 

gois  Coppee  on  its  staff,  its  literary  flavor  was  not  lost  after 
the  death  of  its  editor;  but  it,  too,  suffered  in  the  Dreyfus 
affair,  and  is  on  the  decline. 

What  shall  we  say  of  Drumont,  whose  daily  battle  cry  in 
La  Libre  Parole  is  "  down  with  the  Jew  and  the  Briton!  "? 
His  paper  would  be  quite  impossible  in  this  country;  for, 
quite  aside  from  our  ideas  of  tolerance,  an  anti-Jewish  jour- 
nal would  not  enjoy  much  advertising  patronage.  But  in 
France,  where  journals  are  supported  by  subsidies,  and  where 
"  la  reclame,"  or  the  paid  "  puff,"  has  been  fostered  in  a 
way  quite  foreign  to  American  notions  of  propriety,  it  is 
possible  to  make  such  a  newspaper  pay.  La  Libre  Parole, 
which  fomented  the  Dreyfus  affair,  is  prosperous,  and  wields 
great  political  influence.  Drumont,  whose  published  photo- 
graphs suggest  the  bomb-throwing  anarchist,  is  a  man  of 
scholarly  attainments.  But  his  learning  and  style  are  nullified 
by  reckless  mendacity  and  venom  of  utterance.  Yet  such  is 
the  feeling  against  the  Jew  in  France — stimulated,  perhaps, 
by  Drumont 's  extravagant  book,  La  France  Juive — that  the 
clergy  has  been  conspicuous  in  the  list  of  his  subscribers. 

Some  mention  must  be  made  of  L'Humanite,  the  organ  of 
the  Socialist  leader,  Jaures,  whose  unquenchable  oratory  is 
thereby  spread  far  and  wide;  La  Republique  Franqaise,  in 
which  the  torch  of  Gambetta  is  borne  on  by  Joseph  Reinach ; 
L  'Aurore*  of  which  Georges  Clemenceau  was  a  former  editor ; 
the  anti-clerical  Le  Radical,  and  Le  Rappel;  Le  Gil  Bias,2  a 
naughty  paper  somewhat  diminished  in  consequence;  La 
Liberte,  a  Republican  paper  with  a  leaning  to  the  news,  and 
Le  XlXeme  Siecle,  founded  by  Edmond  About.  The  cata- 
logue degenerates  into  a  gazetteer. 

The  solid,  substantial,  and  most  important  newspaper  in 

1  It  was  L' Aurore  that,  in  1898,  published  6mile  Zola's  famous  letter, 
J' accuse,    in    which    he   attacked    the    officers   of  the   Dreyfus    court- 
martial,  and  for  which  both  Zola  and  the  Aurore's  editor,  M.  Perreux, 
were  fined  and  imprisoned. 

2  Le  Gil  Bias  made  its  appearance  as  a  literary  weekly,  a  quarter  of  a 
century  ago,  with  Gambetta  as  a  backer,  and  became  so  successful  that  its 
daring  purchasers  converted  it  into  a  daily  devoted  wholly  to  literature. 
Maupassant,  Zola,  Mendes,  and  Anatole  France  were  among  its  contribu- 
tors.   Then  it  took  a  hand  in  politics,  but  that  has  not  enlarged  its 
reputation. 

515 


THE    HISTORY   OF    FRENCH   LITERATURE 

France  is,  of  course,  Le  Temps,  which,  like  Les  Debats,  is  pub- 
lished in  the  afternoon.  It  is  able,  it  is  heavy,  it  is  dignified 
— it  has,  in  short,  many  of  the  characteristics  of  its  London 
namesake,  including  the  tendency  to  publish  parliamentary 
addresses  and  other  sober  orations  in  full.  No  one  who  wishes 
to  read  a  verbatim  report  of  the  maiden  address  of  a  new  Im- 
mortal will  begrudge  it  its  price  of  three  cents.  It  prints 
the  semi-official  Government  announcements,  and  upholds  the 
dignity  of  the  nation.  It  is  nothing,  if  not  intellectual — it 
has  been  the  medium  of  Sainte-Beuve  and  of  Sarcey ;  and  it  is 
ever  informing  and  accurate,  and  only  those  persons  who  in- 
sist upon  being  entertained  as  well  as  instructed — and  who 
may  be  dismissed  with  the  frivolous  majority  in  France — find 
it  dull.  Le  Temps  is  mildly  anti-clerical,  and  is  the  only 
French  paper  of  consequence  that  is  Protestant  in  policy.  It 
was  established  by  Alsatian  Protestants,  in  1861,  at  a  time 
when  Napoleon  III  had  come  to  feel  that  a  modification  of  the 
rigid  press  censorship  would  be  judicious.  Its  editor,  A.  Nefft- 
zer,  with  several  associates,  made  its  influence  felt  at  once ;  but 
the  loss  of  Alsace-Lorraine  in  the  Franco-Prussian  War  de- 
moralized the  patriotic  staff.  Nefftzer  dropped  his  pen  and 
died,  and  in  1871  the  journal,  greatly  impaired  in  prestige 
and  fortune,  was  bought  for  a  small  sum  by  a  company  formed 
by  Adrien  Hebrard.  His  capacity  as  a  manager,  united  with 
a  breadth  of  view  and  a  thorough  knowledge  of  world  politics 
that  his  service  in  the  Senate  has  enriched,  have  made  it  pos- 
sible for  him  to  put  Le  Temps  on  the  eminence  it  occupies 
to-day. 

The  religious  press  is  an  important  factor  in  France.  La 
Croix,  the  organ  of  the  Roman  Catholic  clergy,  has  its  head- 
quarters in  Paris,  and  nearly  two  hundred  local  editions  in 
as  many  provincial  towns.  Its  circulation  is  rivaled  only  by 
that  of  the  Le  Petit  Journal,  and  its  influence  is,  of  course, 
considerable.  Obviously,  it  is  anti-Republican ;  at  the  time  of 
the  disaffection  of  the  South  in  the  early  summer  of  1907, 
the  enemies  of  La  Croix  in  the  Chamber  of  Deputies  charged 
it  with  sowing  the  seeds  of  dissension  by  evoking  visions  of  a 
happier  France  under  kingly  rule. 

L'Univers,  moderate  and  dignified  in  tone,  became  famous 
through  its  great  editor,  the  late  Louis  Veuillot.  Guarding 

516 


THE    FRENCH    PRESS 

the  interests  of  the  Catholics,  and  espousing  the  Orleanist 
cause,  it  makes  a  secular  appeal  in  its  columns  devoted  to 
literature  and  the  drama,  and  even  to  the  horse-races,  and  is, 
on  the  whole,  political  rather  than  religious. 

The  provinces  no  longer  look  wholly  to  Paris  for  news 
and  views,  and  the  provincial  press  has  made  great  strides 
since  1880.  La  Depeche,  of  Toulouse  prints  twelve  daily 
editions,  and  circulates  through  a  large  area.  Two  other  Re- 
publican dailies  are  Le  Nouvelliste  de  Lyon  and  Le  Petit  Mar- 
seillais.  These,  with  other  provincial  papers,  have  their  rep- 
resentatives in  Paris,  and  receive  news  reports  by  wire. 

FRENCH  PERIODICALS 

The  unillustrated  French  magazines  and  reviews,  at  their 
best,  represent  a  higher  order  of  merit  than  the  contemporary 
French  Press,  and  are  not  excelled  by  those  of  any  country. 
Periodical  literature  originated  in  France,  and  the  magazines 
of  other  European  nations  have  followed  French  models. 
The  great  Journal  des  Savants,  first  issued  on  January  5, 
1665,  by  Denis  de  Sallo,  scholar  and  nobleman,  under  the 
nominal  editorship  of  his  secretary,  d'Hedouville,  and  con- 
tinued by  the  Abbe  Jean  Gallois  and  others,  soon  became  the 
mouthpiece  of  letters  and  science.  It  made  all  knowledge 
its  own.  History,  mechanics,  medicine,  the  natural  sciences, 
poetry — there  was  nothing  in  the  domain  of  the  intellect  that 
it  did  not  seek  to  exploit.  Curiously  enough,  its  constituency 
took  exception  to  poetry,  as  beneath  the  serious  considera- 
tion of  a  scientific  journal.  The  intellectual  aristocracy  of 
France  were  its  supporters,  and — suppressed  and  revived  at 
intervals— it  remained  the  foremost  exponent  of  contem- 
porary life  and  thought  until  the  appearance  of  La  Revue 
des  Deux-Mondes.  This  magazine  is  now  the  best  publication 
of  its  kind  in  France — perhaps  the  best  in  the  world  as  a 
purveyor  of  pure  literature  and  criticism.  Started  in  1831 
by  Frangois  Buloz,  it  soon  became  the  forum  of  literary  and 
scientific  France.  Buloz  (1804-77),  was  a  shepherd  in  his 
youth,  and  was  educated  by  a  patron  who  took  a  fancy  to 
him.  On  coming  to  Paris  he  worked  as  a  compositor,  and 
saved  enough  money  to  buy  the  moribund  Revue.  A  born 

517 


THE    HISTORY   OF    FRENCH   LITERATURE 

editor,  he  possessed  in  a  remarkable  degree  all  the  qualifica- 
tions for  managing  an  enterprise  of  this  description.  He  was 
painstaking,  far-sighted,  and  endowed  with  a  singularly  keen 
scent  for  matters  of  current  interest,  for  everything  that  was 
"  actuel."  It  was  Buloz,  who,  when  a  philosopher  handed 
him  a  treatise  on  the  nature  and  substance  of  the  Godhead, 
rejected  it  with  the  remark,  "  Dieu  n'est  pas  actuel."  He 
did  not,  however,  like  some  of  our  American  editors,  fall  a 
victim  to  "  timeliness  "  by  trespassing  on  the  functions  of 
journalism.  The  literary  integrity  of  the  great  journal  was 
kept  intact.  In  1833  La  Revue  des  Deux-Mondes  began  the 
publication  of  political  articles,  and  from  that  time  on  it  be- 
came a  perfect  mirror  of  the  times.  All  men  of  literary  con- 
sequence— Alfred  de  Musset,  Mignet,  Guizot,  Villemain,  de 
Vigny,  Augustin  Thierry,  de  Remusat,  Sainte-Beuve,  Jules 
Sandeau,  Victor  Hugo,  Alexandre  Dumas,  Balzac,  Octave 
Feuillet,  Taine,  Renan,  Havet — contributed  to  it,  and  all  of 
them  subordinated  themselves  to  the  despotic  will  of  Buloz, 
who  used  his  blue  pencil  without  mercy  whenever  the  interests 
of  his  paper  so  demanded.  In  1845  La  Revue  was  reorganized 
and  converted  into  a  stock  company,  and  the  undertaking  now 
represents  an  annual  net  earning  capacity  of  five  hundred 
thousand  francs.  Upon  the  death  of  Buloz,  his  son  assumed 
the  management,  and  retained  it  until  1893,  when  the  dis- 
tinguished litterateur,  Ferdinand  Brunetiere  (born  1849  at 
Toulon,  recently  deceased),  became  the  editor.  For  a  time, 
Madame  Adam's  La  Nouvelle  Revue  and  La  Revue  Politique 
et  Litteraire  endeavored  to  outstrip  La  Revue  des  Deux- 
Mondes,  but  without  success. 

The  growth  of  the  illustrated  French  magazines  is  unim- 
portant. L'lllustration,  Le  Monde  Illustre,  Le  Magasin  Pit- 
toresque,  etc.,  are  excellent  of  their  kind.  The  humorous 
publications,  Le  Charivari  (1832),  Le  Petit  Journal  pour 
Rire,  Le  Journal  Amusant,  etc.,  although  they  possess  the 
distinguishing  French  characteristic  of  spontaneous  grace 
and  recklessness,  do  not  rise  to  the  level  one  might  expect  in 
a  nation  of  such  lively  imagination  and  delicate  art.  Often, 
indeed,  these  publications  seem  not  only  pointless  to  the 
Americans,  but  shockingly  vulgar  as  well.  A  satirical  jour- 
nal worthy  of  the  French  literary  genius  is  yet  to  be  born. 

518 


APPENDIX 


THE   FORTY  IMMORTALS  OF  THE  FRENCH  ACADEMY 


Year 
Elected. 


Name. 


1 

2 

3 

4 

5 

6 

7 

8 

9 

10 

11 

12 

13 

14 

15 

16 

17 

18 

19 

20 

21 

22 

23 

24 

25 

26 

27 

28 

29 

30 

31 


1870 
1874 
1886 
1888 
1888 
1890 
1891 
1892 
1893 
1894 
1894 
1895 
1896 
1896 
1896 
1897 
1897 
1899 
1899 
1900 
1900 
1901 
1901 
1903 
1903 
1905 
1906 
1906 
1906 
1907 
1907 


Emile  Oilivier. 

Alfred  Jean  Francois  Mezieres. 

Comte  d'Haussonville  (Oth6nin  P.  de  Cleron). 

Jules  Arnaud  Arsene  Claretie. 

Vicomte  de  Vogue  (Eugene  Marie  Melchior). 

Charles  Louis  de  Saulses  de  Freycinet. 

Louis  Marie  Julien  Viaud  (Pierre  Loti). 

Ernest  Lavisse. 

Paul  Louis  Thureau-Dangin. 

*  Paul  Bourget. 

.  Henri  Houssaye. 

4  Jules  Lemaitre. 

^  Jacques  Anatole  Thibault  (Anatole  France). 

Marquis  de  Beauregard  (Marie  C.  A.  Costa). 

Comte  Vandal  (Louis  Jules  Albert). 

Comte  de  Mun  (Albert). 

Gabriel  Hanotaux. 

Henri  Le"on  Emile  Lavedan. 

Paul  Deschanel. 

Paul  Hervieu. 

Auguste  Emile  Faguet. 

Marquis  de  Vogue  (Charles  Jean  Melchior). 

*  Edmond  Rostand. 
Fre'de'ric  Masson. 
Rene  Bazin. 
Etienne  Lamy. 

•^Alexandra  Felix  Joseph  Ribot. 
Maurice  Barres. 

Cardinal  Mathieu  (Francois  Desire"). 
Marquis  de  Segur. 
Maurice  Donnay. 
519 


APPENDIX 


Year 
Elected. 

Name. 

32 

1907 

Maitre  Andre  Barboux. 

33 

1908 

Francis  Charmes. 

34 
35 

1908 
1908 

Jean  Richepin. 
Henri  Poincare". 

36 
37 
38 

1909 
1909 
1909 

\  Raymond  Poincare*. 
^Eugene  Brieux. 
Jean  Aicard. 

39 
40 

1909 
1909 

*  Rene  Doumic. 
A  Marcel  Prevost. 

RULERS  OF  FRANCE 

I 

MEROVINGIAN  DYNASTY 
481-751  (TEUTONIC  RULERS) 

Clovis  (First  Christian  King) 481-511 

Division  of  Gaul  into  several  kingdoms.  Mayors  of 
palace  (chiefs  of  the  leudes  or  nobles)  becoming  actual 
rulers  and  reducing  the  kings  to  "do-naughts"  (row 
faineants) 511-751 

II 

CAROLINGIAN  DYNASTY 
751-987 

Pepin  the  Short  (Le  Bref) ..  751-768 

Charles  I,  the  Great  (Charlemagne) 768-814 

Louis  I,  the  Pious  (Le  Pieux  or  Le  Debonnaire)          .        .  814-840 

Division  of  kingdom  by  three  sons  of  Louis  I.      .        .  840-843 

Charles  II,  the  Bald  (Le  Chauve)  .....  843-877 

Louis  II,  the  Stammerer  (Le  Begue) 877-879 

Louis  III,  and  his  brother  Carloman 879-884 

Charles  the  Fat  (Le  Gros) 884-887 

Eudes,  or  Odo,  Count  of  Paris 887-898 

Charles  III,  the  Simple  (Le  Simple  or  le  Sot)       .       .       .  898-923 
(Robert  I,  the  "Fame-bright,"  was   chosen  king  of 
France  in  opposition  to  Charles  the  Simple  in  922) 

Raoul  of  Burgundy 923-936 

520 


APPENDIX 

Louis  IV,  from  beyond  the  Seas  (D'Outre-Mer)  .       .       .  936-954 

Lot-hair 954-986 

Louis  V,  the  Sluggard  (Le  Faineant)           ....  986-987 

III 

CAPETIAN  DYNASTY 
987-1328 

Hugh  Capet 987-  996 

Robert  II,  the  Pious  (Le  Pieux) 996-1031 

Henry  I  1031-1060 

Philip  I 1060-1108 

Louis  VI,  the  Fat  (Le  Gros) 1108-1137 

Louis  VII,  the  Young  (Louis-Flores  or  Le  Jeung)     .       .  1137-1180 

Philip  II,  Augustus 1180-1223 

Louis  VIII,  the  Lion  (Le  Lion) 1223-1226 

Louis  IX,  Saint  Louis  (Canonized  1279)    ....  1226-1270 

Philip  III,  the  Bold  (Le  Hardi) 1270-1285 

Philip  IV,  the  Fair  (Le  Bel) 1285-1314 

Louis  X,  the  Quarreler  (Le  Hutin) 1314-1316 

Philip  V,  the  Tall  (Le  Long) 1316-1322 

Charles  IV,  the  Fair  (Le  Bel) 1322-1328 

IV 

THE  HOUSE  OF  VALOIS 

(INCLUDING   THE   VALOIS-DIRECT — THE   VALOIS-ORLEANS — AND   THE 
VALOIS- ANGOULEME) 

1328-1589 

Philip   VI    (Valois) 1328-1350 

John  II,  the  Good  (Le  Bon) 1350-1364 

(John  I  (le  Posthume),  was  the  posthumous  son  of 
Louis  X,  and  lived  only  a  few  days)    .... 

Charles  V,  the  Wise  (Le  Sage) 1364-1380 

Charles  VI,  the  Well-Beloved,  also  the   Mad  (Le  Bien- 

Aime"  or  Le  Fou) 1380-1422 

Charles  VII,  the  Victorious  (Le  Victorieux)      .       .       .  1422-1461 

Louis  XI 1461-1483 

Charles  VIII 1483-1498 

Louis  XII,  the  Father  of  the  People  (le  Pere  du  peuple)  1498-1515 

521 


APPENDIX 


Francis  I 
Henry  II 
Francis  II 
Charles  IX 
Henry  III 


1515-1547 
1547-1559 
1559-1560 
1560-1574 
1574-1589 


THE  BOURBONS 

1589-1793 

Henry  IV 

Louis  XIII,  the  Just  (Le  Juste) 

(Regency  of  Marie  de  Medicis  1610-1614)  . 

Louis  XIV,  the  Great,  the  Sun  King  (Le  Grand) 
Regency  of  Anne  of  Austria,  1643-1661)    . 

Louis  XV,  the  Well-Beloved  (Le  Bien-Aime)    . 
(Regency  of  Duke  of  Orleans,  1715-1723)  . 

Louis  XVI 

(Louis  XVII  proclaimed  King  of  France  by  the 
Emigres  after  the  execution  of  Louis  XVI ;  supposed 
to  have  died  1795) 

VI 

FIRST  REPUBLIC 


1792-1804 


1589-1610 
1610-1643 

1643-1715 
1715-1774 
1774-1792 


National  Convention. 
Directory     . 
The  Consulate    . 


VII 
FIRST  EMPIRE 


Sept.  1792-Oct.  1795 
Oct.  1795-Nov.  1799 
Nov.  1799-Oct.  1804 


1804-1814 

Napoleon  I 1804-1814 

(Napoleon  II,  titular  Emperor  of  the  French,  born 
1811,  died  1832) 

VIII 

THE  RESTORATION 
1814-1830 

First  Restoration:  Louis  XVIII 1814-1824 

Second  Restoration:  Charles  X 1824-1830 

Louis-Philippe  I,  the  Citizen  King  (le  Roi  Citoyen)          .       1830-1848 

522 


APPENDIX 

IX 

SECOND  REPUBLIC 
1848-1852 

Provisional  Government Feb.  to  Dec.  1848 

Louis  Napoleon,  President 1848-1852 

X 

SECOND  EMPIRE 

1852-1870 
Napoleon  III 1852-1870 

XI 

THIRD  REPUBLIC 
Committee  of  Public  Defense 1870-1871 

Presidents 

L.  A.  Thiers 1871-1873 

Marshal  MacMahon 1873-1879 

Jules  Grevy 1879-1887 

Marie  F.  S.  Carnot 1887-1894 

Jean  Casimir  Perier 1894-1895 

Felix  Fransois  Faure 1895-1899 

Emile  Loubet 1899-1906 

Armand  Fallieres    .  1906- 


\ 


BIBLIOGRAPHY 


GASTON  PARIS 
Pio  RAJNA 
LEON  GAUTIER     . 

r 

EMIL  SEELMAN     . 

FRANZ  SCHOLLE   . 
GUIZOT       .... 
KR.  NTROP 


D.  NISARD 
JEAN  FLEURY 

PETIT  DE  JTJLLEVILLE 


AUGUSTIN  THIERRY  . 
EMILE  FAGUET 


GUSTAVE   LANSON 


Histoire  litteraire  de  la  France;  La  liMera- 
ture  francaise  au  moyen-age;  La  poesie 
du  moyen-age;  Les  romans  de  la  table 
ronde;  Francois  Villon. 

Contribute  alia  Storia  dell'Epopea  e  del 
romanza  medievale;  Le  origini  dell'Epo- 
pea Francese;  Richerche  intorno  di  Reali 
di  Francia. 

La  Chanson  de  Roland;  Bibliographic  des 
legendes  epiques;  Les  Epopees  frangaises. 

Bibliographic  des  altfranzosischen  Rolands- 
lieds. 

Zur  Kritik  des  Rolandslieds. 

Essais  sur  I'histoire  de  France. 

Grammaire  historique  de  la  langue  fran- 
caise; Den  Old-franske  Heltedigtning — 
Italian  translation,  Storia  dell'Epopea 
Francese  nel  medio  evo. 

Histoire  de  la  litterature  francaise. 

La  litterature  francaise;  Marivaux  et  le 
marivaudage. 

Histoire  de  la  langue  et  de  la  litterature  fran- 
yaises  des  origines  a  1900,  publiee  sous 
la  direction  de  Petit  de  Julleville;  Les 
mysteres;  Les  comedies  en  France  au 
moyen-age. 

Lettres  sur  I'histoire  de  France. 

Histoire  de  la  litterature  francaise;  Etudes 
sur  leXVIe  siecle;  Le  dix-neuvieme  siecle; 
La  Fontaine. 

Corneille;  Voltaire;  Boileau;  Nivellede  la 
Chaussee  et  la  comedie  larmoyante  (Les 
Grands  Ecrivains  Fran$ais). 

524 


BIBLIOGRAPHY 


JULES  LEMAITRE 
G.  PELLISSIER 


ANDREA  DE  MAGNABOTTI 
CH.  AUBERTIN 

SAN  MARTE 


JOHN  RHYS     . 
H.  ZIMMER 
EDUARD  ENGEL 
A.  FRANKLIN 
F.  LOT       .     . 
TH.  BENFEY 


JOSEPH  BEDIER    . 
SAINT-MARC  GIRARDIN 

A.    VlLLEMAIN         .        . 


E.  LANGLOIS  .... 
C.  BEAUFILS 

A.  MOLINIER 
MAX  MULLER       .     .     . 
REINHOLD  KOEHLER 
TEN  BRINK     .... 
ANATOLE  DE  MONTAIGLON 


C.  HIPPEAU    .     . 
HENRY  CARRINGTON 

SlSMONDIS 


Impressions  de  theatre;  Decadents-Deliqu- 
escents-Symboliques. 

Le  mouvement  litteraire  au  XIXe  siede; 
Morceaux  choisis  des  poetes  du  XV Ie 
siede. 

Reali  di  Francia. 

Histoire  de  la  langue  et  de  la  litterature 
franfaises  au  moyen-age. 

Die  Artussage  und  die  Marchen  des  Roten 
Buches  von  Hergest;  Gottfrieds  von  Mon- 
mouth  Historia  regum  Britaniae. 

Studies  in  the  Arthurian  legend. 

Keltische  Studien. 

Geschichte  der  franzosischen  Literatur, 

La  Sorbonne,  ses  origines,  etc. 

Etudes  sur  Merlin. 

Pantchatantra  funf  Bucher  indischer  Fabeln, 
Marchen  und  Erzahlungen  ubersetzt  mii 
Einleitung. 

Les  fabliaux;  Les  legendes  epiques. 

La  Fontaine  et  les  Fabulistes;  J.  J.  Rous- 
seau, sa  vie  et  ses  ouvrages. 

Discours  et  melange  litteraires;  M.  de  Cha- 
teaubriand, sa  vie,  ses  ouvrages  et  son 
influence;  Cours  de  litterature. 

Origines  et  sources  du  Roman  de  la  Rose; 
Essais  sur  les  danses  des  morts. 

Etude  sur  la  vie  et  les  poesies  de  Charles 
d'Orleans. 

Etudes  d'histoire  du  moyen-age. 

Essays. 

Aufsdtze  uber  Marchen  und  volkslieder. 

Geschichte  der  Englischen  Literatur. 

Recueil  general  et  complet  des  fabliaux  des 
XIHe  et  XIVe  siedes;  Recueil  de  potsies 
fran$aises  des  XVe  et  XV Ie  siedes,  mo- 
rales, facetieuses,  etc. 

Le  Bestiaire  divin  de  Guittaume;  Ie  Bestiaire 
d'amour  de  Richard. 

.  Anthology  of  French  poetry. 

Historical  view  of  the  Literature  of  the  South 
of  Europe — Roscoe's  translation. 
525 


BIBLIOGRAPHY 


HARRIET  W.  PRESTON 
G.  SAINTSBURY     . 
S.  DE  SACY 


E.  RATHERY    . 
H.  P.  JUNKER 

P.    TOLDO  .        . 

J.  J.  JUSSERAND 
VOLTAIRE 
A.  MENNUNG 
RENE  DOUMIC 

P.  PELLISSON 

F.  L.  CROUSLE     . 
DESNOIRESTERRES 

R.  MAHRENHOLTZ 


Troubadours  New  and  Old. 

French  Literature. 

Varietes  litteraires,  morales  et  historiques; 

Lettres  de  Madame  de  Sevigne. 
De  I'influence  de  la  litterature  et  du  genie  de 

I'ltalie  sur  les  lettres  fran$aises. 
Grundriss  der  Geschichte  der  franzosischen 

Literatur. 
Contributo  alia  studio  della  Novella  Fran- 

cese  del  XV  et  del  XVI  secoli. 
Shakespeare  en  France  sous  I'ancien  regime. 
Le  siecle  de  Louis  XIV. 
Der  Sonettenstreit  und  seine  Quellen. 
Portraits  d'Ecrivains;  Histoire  de  la  littera- 
ture fran^aise. 

Histoire  de  V Academic  franyaise. 
Fenelon  et  Bossuet. 
Voltaire  et  la  societe  franc,  aise  du  XVI I Ie 

siecle. 

Voltaire's  Leben  und  Werke;  Die  Revolution 
auf  der  Schaubuhne  und  in  der  Tages- 
dramatik. 

MAYNARD Voltaire,  sa  vie  et  ses  ceuvres. 

L.  PEREY  ET  G.  MATJGRAS  La  vie  intime  de  Voltaire  aux  Delices  et  a 

Ferney. 
J.  BARNI    .....     Histoire  des  idees  morales  et  politiques  en 

France  au  XVIIIs  siecle. 
H.  NADAULT  DE  BUFFON    Buffon,  sa  famille,  ses  cottaborateurs  et  ses 

familiers. 

CONDORCET      ....     ffitude  biographique  de  Voltaire. 
PENNING    .      .      .      .      .     Duds  als  Nachahmer  Shakespeares. 
P.  MARIETON  ....     Une  Histoire  d'amour:  les  Amants  de  Ve- 

nise;  Jacques  Jasmin. 
S.  ROCHEBLAVE    .     ,     ^     Lettres  de  George  Sand  a  A.  de  Musset  et  a 

Sainte-Beuve. 

PH.  CHASLES         .      .      .     fitudes  de  litterature  comparie. 
RAMBERT  .      .      .      .      .     ficrivains  nationaux. 

J.  JANIN Franf ois  Ponsard. 

E.  RIGAL Alexandre  Hardy  et  le  Theatre  fran^ais  a  la 

fin  du  XVIe    et  au  commencement   du 
XVII*  siecle. 

526 


BIBLIOGRAPHY 

P.  LACROIX     ....  Bibliographic  Molieresque. 

M.  TOURNEUX      .      .      .  Etudes  de  critique  et  de  bibliographic. 

A.  THIEROT     ....  Voltaire  en  Prusse. 

K.  SCHNEIDER      .      .      .  Rousseau  und  Pestalozzi. 

A.  MEZIERES  ....  Vie  de  Mirabeau. 

F.  GROSS Goethe's  Werther  in  Frankreich. 

E.  PAILLERON.     .      .      .  Smile  Aug/ier. 

FR.  SARCEY  ...  La  Comedie  Franfaise;  Theatres  divers. 

L.  LACOUR  ....  Gaulois  et  Parisiens. 

E.  LEGOUVE  ....  Eugene  Scribe. 

G.  MAUGRAS  .      .      .      .  Trois  mois  a  la  cour  de  Frederic. 

E.  GERUZEZ    ....     Histoire  de  la  litterature  frangaise  jusqu'en 

1789. 
A.  ROCHE        ....     Histoire  des  principaux  ecrivains  }ran$ais 

depuis  I'origine  jusqu'a  nos  jours. 
A.  SCHULTZ     ....     Das  hofische  Leben  zur  Zeit  der  Minnesdn- 

ger. 
M.  SEPET Les  Origines  catholiques  du  theatre  moderne; 

Le  drame  chretien  au  moyen-dge. 

FABRE tltudes  historiques  sur  les  clercs  de  la  basoche. 

JULIEN  TRAVERS  ET  AUG. 

ASSELIN    ....     Olivier  Basselin. 
GASTE Olivier  Basselin  et  les  compagnons  de  Vaux- 

de-Vire. 

PEIGNOT Recherches  sur  les  danses  des  marts. 

H.  F.  M ASSMANN       .      .     Literatur  der  Totentdnze;  die  Baseler  Toten- 

tdnze. 

DELAUNAT Etude  sur  Alain  Chartier. 

EUGENE  DE  BUDE     .      .     Vie  de  Guillaume  Bude,  fondateur  du  College 

de  France. 
A.  LEFRANC    ....     Histoire  du  College  de  France. 

LIARD L'Enseignement  superieur  en  France. 

WADDINGTON        .      .      .     P.deLa  Ramie. 

C.  A.  DESMAZE    .      .      .     P.  Ramus,  sa  vie,  ses  ecrits,  sa  mort. 

ALFRED  FOUILLEE     .      .     Histoire  de  la  philosophic. 

F.  BOUILLIER.     .      .      .     Histoire  de  la  philosophic  cartesienne. 
LE  DUCHAT     ....     Rabelais. 

DES  MARETS  ET  RATHERY  Rabelais. 

E.  GEBHART    ....     Rabelais,  la  Renaissance  et  la  Reforme. 
P.  STAFFER     ....     Rabelais,  sa  personne,  son  genie,  son  aeuvre, 
A.  TILLEY       .     .     .     .     Francois  Rabelais. 

527 


P.  BOUHOURS  ....     Vie  de  Saint  Ignace. 

CAPEFIGUE       ....     Saint  Ignace  et  les  Jesuites. 

BONNEFON       ....     Montaigne  et  ses  amis;  Beaumarchais  (Les 

ficrivains   celebres  de  France). 
E.  DOWDEN     ....     Michel  de  Montaigne. 
FUNCK-BRENTANO      .      .     Le  Drame  des  Poisons. 

VITET         Clement  Marot. 

DOUEN Clement  Marot  et  le  psautier  huguenot. 

RACAN Vie  de  Malherbe. 

J.  VIANEY       ....     Mathurin  Regnier. 

P.  ALBERT      ....     La  Literature  franchise  des  origines  a  la  fin 

du  XV le  siecle;  La  Litterature  francaise 

au  XVHIe  siecle. 
GENIN Lettres  et  nouveUes  lettres  de  Marguerite 

d'Angouleme. 
C.  LENIENT     ....     La  Satire  en  France  au  moyen-dge;  La  Satire 

en  France  au  XV le  siecle. 
SAINTE-BEUVE      .      .      .     Cauteries   du   Lundi;  Nouveaux   Lundis; 

Critiques   et  Portraits  litteraires;   Port- 
Royal. 
BOUILLET Porphyre;  son  role  dans  I'ecole  neoplatoni- 

cienne. 

HAUREAU Sur  la  philosophic  scolastisque. 

ROUSSELOT  ....  fitudes  de  la  philosophic  dans  le  moyen-age. 
CH.  DE  REMUSAT.  .  .  Abelard,  savie,  sa  philosophic,  et  sa  theologie. 
A.  SCHWEGLER  .  .  .  History  of  Philosophy  with  Annotations  by 

J.  H.  Stirling. 
SAINTE-AULAIRE  .     .      .     Histoire  de  la  Fronde. 

COUSIN La  societe  frangaise  du  XVIIs  siecle. 

CH.  LIVET Precieux  et  Precieuses. 

SOMAIZE Dictionnaire  des  Precieuses. 

LAVISSE Sully. 

LESSING Hamburgische  Dramaturgic. 

LALANNE Brantome,  sa  vie  et  ses  ecrits. 

L.  ARNOULD    ....     Racan. 

COMTE    HORRIC    DE  BEAU- 

CAIRE Memoires  du  Cardinal  de  Richelieu. 

FERDINAND  BRUNETIERE     Manuel  de  I'histoire  de  la  litterature  fran- 

$aise;  L' evolution  de  la  poesie  lyrique  en 
France  au  dix-neuvibme  siecle;  Honore 
de  Balzac  (French  Men  of  Letters;  trans- 
lation by  R.  L.  Sanderson). 

528 


G.  BRANDES    .     . 

THEOPHILE  GAUTIER. 
P.  MORILLOT  . 


PIERRE  BRUN. 

Aucoc 

P.  MESNARD    . 
J.  DEMOGEOT  . 
RACINE      .... 
GUSTAVE  LARROUMET 


BIBLIOGRAPHY 

.     Die  Haupstromungen  der  Liter atur  des 

Jahrhunderts. 

.     Les  grotesques;  Histoire  du  Romantisme. 
.     Scarron  et  le  genre  burlesque;  Emile  Augier, 
etude  bwgraphique  et  critique;  Le  Roman 
en  France  de  1610  jusqu'a  nos  jours. 
Savinien  de  Cyrano  de  Bergerac. 
L'Institut  de  France. 
.     Histoire  de  I'Academie  franchise. 
.     Histoire  de  la  litterature  francaise. 

Histoire  de  Port-Royal. 
.     Racine   (Les  Grands  Ecrivains  Franc,  ais); 

La  comedie  de  Moliere. 
La  Fontaine  et  ses  fables;  Essais  de  critique 

et  d'histoire. 

.     Charles  Le  Brun  et  les  arts  sous  Louis  XIV. 
.     La  Bruyere  dans  la  maison  de  Conde. 
.     Le  Roman  en  France  au  debut  du  XVIIIe 
siecle;  A.  Dumas  fils;  Moliere,  sa  vie  et  ses 
ceuvres. 

La  vie  et  les  aeuvres  de  J.  J.  Rousseau. 
.     Diderot's  Leben  und  Werke. 
D'Alembert. 
Florian. 
Le  Poete  Jean  Regnard  en  son  chateau  de 

Grillon. 

.     Notes  on  Madame  de  Stael. 
.     Madame  de  Stael  et  Napoleon. 
.     Les  Ideologues  franfais. 

Biographic  a" Alfred  de  Mussel. 
.     A.  de  Mussel  (Les  Grands  Ecrivains  Fran- 


H.  TAINE  .     .     . 

H.  JOUIN  . 
ETIENNE  ALLAIRE 
J.  CLARETIE    . 


BEAUDOUIN 
ROSENKRANZ  . 
J.  BERTRAND  . 
LEO  CLARETIE 
GUYOT 

E.  RlTTER 

PAUL  GAUTIER     . 

F.  J.  PICAVET 
PAUL  DE  MUSSET 
ARVEDE  BARINE  . 


ROD Stendhal. 

P.  BOURGET    ....  Essais  de  psychologic  contemporaine. 

SMILES Jasmin — Barber,  Poet,  Philanthropist. 

BERNARD  SHAW    .     .      .  Dramatic  Opinions  and  Essays. 


35 


INDEX 

NOTE. — References  to  the  biographies  of  authors  are  indicated  by 
heavy  type. 


A  Propos  d'un  Cheval  (V.  Cherbu- 

liez),  413. 
A  Quoi  Revent  Les  Jeunes  Filles 

(A.  de  Musset),  382. 
Abb£  Constantin,  L',  (L.  HaleVy), 

486. 

Abbe"  Tigrane,  L',  (F.  Fabre),  442. 
ABELARD,  P.,  101  n.  1,  183. 
Ablugo   de   Castel-Culi6,   L',    (Jas- 
min), 448. 

ABOUT,  E.,  412,  513,  515. 
ACADEMIE  FRAN^AISE,  163-165. 
ACADEMIE  GONCOUKT,  430,  442. 
Actes    des    Ap6tres    (Arnold    and 

Simon  Gre'ban),  66. 
ADAM,  P.,  443. 
ADAM  DE  LA  HALLE,  91. 
ADDISON,  277  n.  1,  309. 
Adelphi  (Terence),  218. 
Adrienne    Lecouvreur    (E.    Scribe 

and  E.  Legouv6),  482. 
.Eneid  (Vergil),  160. 
^SOP,  39,  234. 
Affaire  Galas,  299  n.  1. 
Affaire  Ctemenceau,  L',  (A.  Dumas 

fils),  474,  476. 
Affaire  des  Placards,  131. 
Affaires  de  Rdme  (Lamennais),  451. 
AGEORGES,  J.,  443. 
Agesilas  (P.  Corneille),  173. 
Agnes  de  Meranie  (F.  Ponsard),  483. 
AICARD,  J.,  494. 


Aiglon,  L',  (E.  Rostand),  491,  493. 
Ailes  de  la  Prouesse  (Raoul  de  Hou- 

dan),  48. 
AILLY,  P.  d',  238. 
ALBERIC  DE  BESAN<JON,  32  n.  2. 
ALBERT,  P.,  32,  113. 
Albertus  (T.  Gautier),  390. 
ALEMBERT,  d',  282,  296,  328,  329, 

333-334. 

Alexandre  (J.  Racine),  197. 
ALEXANDRE  DE  BERNAY,  32. 
Alzire  (Voltaire),  291,  296,  301. 
Amants  (M.  Donnay),  489. 
Ami  des  Femmes,  L',  (A.  Dumas 

fils),  477. 
Ami  des  Hommes,  L',  (Mirabeau, 

the  elder),  351. 

Ami  des  Lois,  L',  (Laya),  353. 
Ami  Fritz,  L'  (Erckmann-Chatrian), 

412. 

AMIEL,  378  n.  1. 
Amour,  L',  (J.  Michelet),  461. 
Amour  Medecin,  L',  (Moliere),  229, 

230. 

Amoureuse  (G.  de  Porto-Riche),  489. 
Amoureuses  (A.  Daudet),  431. 
Amours  de  Psych6  et  de  Cupidon, 

Les,  (La  Fontaine),  233. 
Amphitryon  (Moliere),  218,  221. 
Amusements  seneux,  etc.  (Dufres- 

ny),  309. 
AMYOT,  J.,  118,  125. 


531 


INDEX 


Analyse  raisonnee,  etc.   (Chateau- 
briand), 457. 
Anatomy  of  Melancholy  (Burton), 

236. 

ANCEY,  G.,  487. 
Ancien   Regime,   etc.,   L',    (A.   de 

Tocqueville),  461. 
Andre  (G.  Sand),  403. 
Andr<§  del  Sarto  (A.  de  Musset),  382- 

383. 

ANDRIEUX,  359,  360  n.  2. 
Andromaque  (J.  Racine),  197,  198. 
Ane,  L',  (V.  Hugo),  379. 
Angelo  (V.  Hugo),  373. 
Annee    Terrible,    L',    (V.    Hugo), 

379. 

ANSELME,  182,  183. 
Anthology  of  French  Poetry   (H. 

Carrington),  85  n.  1. 
Antique  Cycle,  31. 
Antony  (A.  Dumas  pere),  407. 
Aphrodite  (Louys),  446. 
APOLLINAKIS  SIDONIUS,  2  n.  1. 
Appel  au  Soldat,  L',  (M.  Barres), 

441. 

AQUINAS,  SAINT-THOMAS,  183. 
Arcadia  (Sannazaro),  153. 
ARENE,  P.,  443. 
ARGENSON,  d',  277,  281,  293. 
Argent,  L',  (E.  Zola),  435. 
ARIOSTO,  26,  31  n.  1,  45. 
ARISTOPHANES,  236,  471. 
ARISTOTLE,  110,  167,  183,  185  n.  6, 

357,  402. 
Arlequin  Poll  par  1'Amour  (Mari- 

vaux),  340. 

Armature,  L',  (P.  Hervieu),  489. 
ARNAUD,  BACULARD  d',  335. 
ARNAUD,  DANIEL,  88,  89. 
ARNAUD  DE  MARVEIL,  80-81. 
ARNAULD,  ANTOINE,  190,  192,  193, 

256. 

ARNAULD  d'ANDiLLY,  190. 
ARNAULT,  A.  V.,  353,  359,  360  n.  2. 


Arsace  et  Ismenie   (Montesquieu), 

309. 
Art  au  XVTIIeme  Siecle,  L',  (E.  and 

J.  de  Goncourt),  429. 
Art  Po6tique  (Boileau),  93,  96  n.  1, 

210,  215,  345. 

Art  Poelique  (Verlaine),  445. 
Arthur  (E.  Sue),  410. 
ARTHUR,  King,  10  n.  1,  27,  28. 
ASSAS,  Chevalier  d',  280  n.  1. 
Assassin,  L',  (J.  Claretie),  442. 
Assommoir,  L',  (E.  Zola),  435,  437. 
Assouci,  C.  d',  161. 
ASTIE,  194. 

Astree,  L',  (H.  d'  Urfe),  153. 
Atala  (Chateaubriand),  362,  363. 
Athalie  (J.  Racine),  201,  208. 
Atree  et  Thyeste  (Crdbillon),  267. 
Attaque  du  Moulin  (E.  Zola),  434. 
Attila  (P.  Corneille),  173. 
Au  Bon  Soleil  (P.  Arene),  443. 
Au  Bonheur  des  Dames  (E.  Zola), 

435. 

AUBANEL,  448. 
AUBERTTN,  C.,  25. 

AUBIGNAC,  d',  167. 

AUBIGNE,  A.  d',  118,  142,  146-148. 

AUBRI  DE  BOURGOING,  20. 

Aucassin  et  Nicolette,  43,  44. 
Aufsatze    iiber    Marchen,   etc.  (R. 

Koehler),  34  n^7. 

AUGIER,  E.,  468, 473,  474,  478-481. 
Augustinus  (Jansenius),  189. 
Aulularia,  The,  (Plautus),  228  n.  1. 
Aurora  Leigh  (Mrs.  Browning),  368 

n.  3,  470  n.  2. 
AUTRAN,  J.,  483. 
Aux  Creux  des  Sillons  (P.  Vernon), 

443. 

Avare,  L',  (Moliere),  218,  221. 
Aventures  de  Quatre  Femmes,  etc. 

(A.  Dumas  fils),  474. 
Aventures  du  Baron  de  Foeneate 

(A.  d'Aubigne),  147. 


532 


INDEX 


Aventuriere,  L',  (E.  Augier),  479. 
Aziyade"  (P.  Loti),  414. 

Babouc  (Voltaire),  291. 

BABRIUS,  234. 

BACON,  F.,  186,  290,  319,  329,  402. 

BACON,  R.,  184. 

Bague  de  1'Oubli,  La,  (Rotrou),  168. 

BAIF,  132,  141. 

Baiser,  Le,  (T.  de  Banville),  487  n.  1. 

BAJARDO,  26. 

Bajazet  (J.  Racine),  199,  203,  206- 

207. 
Ballade  des  Dames  du  Temps  Jadis 

(F.  Villon),  98,  100-102. 
Ballade  des  Pendus  (F.  Villon),  98- 

100. 

BALLANCHE,  P.  S.,  450. 
BALZAC,  G.  de,  138  n.  3,  157,  171. 
BALZAC,  H.  de,  236,  361,  417-423, 

424,  425,  426,  495,  505,  518. 
BALZAC,  HONORE  de  (Brunetiere), 

421  n.  1. 

BANVILLE,  T.  de,  444,  487  n.  1. 
BAKANTE,  de,  458. 
BARBIEK,  A.,  370,  395,  400. 
Barbier  de  Seville,  Le,  (Beaumar- 

chais),  338,  339. 
BARRES,  M.,  441. 
BASOCHE,  69. 
BASSELIN,  O.,  92-94. 
Bataille  de  Dames  (E.  Scribe  and 

E.  Legouve),  482. 
BAUDELAIRE,  444. 
BAYLE,  P.,  51,  273-273. 
BAZIN,  R.,  443. 
BEAUCHESNE,  381. 
BEAUMARCHAIS,  322,  335,  336-340, 

349,  473,  478. 
BEAUMONT,  Mme.  de,  369. 
Beaux  Messieurs  de  Boisdore",  Les, 

(G.  Sand),  405. 
BECQUE,  H.,  486-487,  490. 
BEDIER,  J.,  18,  35. 


Be'lisaire  (Marmontel),  344. 
BELLATJ,  R.,  132. 
BENFEY,  T.,  34,  39  n.  1. 
BENOIT  DE  SAINTE-MORE,  32. 
BENSERADE,  156,  212. 
BERANGER,  36  n.  1,  123  n.  2,  395- 

398,  399,  458. 

Berenice  (J.  Racine),  199,  205-206. 
BERGERAC,  C.  de,  161. 
BERGERAT,  E.,  494. 
BERGIER,  Abbe",  329. 
BERNARD  DE  VENTADOUB,  80, 86-87. 
BERNARDIN  de  SAINT-PIERRE,  327, 

346-348,  414. 
BERNIER,  37. 
BERNSTEIN,  494. 
BEROUL,  30. 
BERQUIN,  L.  de,  110. 
BERTAUT,  137. 

BERTRAND  DE  BORN,  80,  82-83. 
Bertrand  et  Raton  (E.  Scribe),  482. 
Bestiaires,  47. 

Bete,  La,  (V.  Cherbuliez),  413. 
B6te  Humaine,  La,  (E.  Zola),  435, 

436. 

BEZE,  de,  110  n.  1,  118. 
Bible  de  Vatable,  109. 
Bible  du  Soldat,  La,  118  n.  3. 
Bibles,  45. 
Bibliotheque  de  mon  Oncle,  La,  (R. 

Toepffer),  394. 

Bienfaiteurs,  Les,  (E.  Brieux),  488. 
Bijoux  Indiscrets,   Les,   (Diderot), 

331. 

Biographies  (V.  Cousin),  452. 
BISSON,  A.,  494. 
BJORNSON,  488. 
BLANC,  C.,  470. 
BLANCHET,  P.,  73  n.  1. 
Bte  Qui  Leve,  Le,  (R.  Bazin),  443. 
BOCCACCIO,  31  n.  3,  38,  45,  70  n.  1, 

105,  106,  148,  236. 
BODEL,  J.,  31,  44,  91. 
BOETHIUS,  182. 


533 


INDEX 


BOILEATJ,  53,  93,  96  n.  1,  135,  142, 
161,  167,  196,  197,  198,  200,  201, 
309-216,  222,  226,  233,  244,  255, 
261,  268,  345,  447. 

BoiSROBERT,  164. 
BOLINGBROKE,  289. 

Bon  Roi  Dagobert,  Le,  (Rivoire), 

494  n.  4. 
BONALD,  de,  450. 
BORNIER,  H.  de,  483. 
BOSSUET,  158,  189,  237,  239-244, 

247  n.  1,  250,  255,  261,  372,  451. 
Boubouroche  (G.  Courteline),  488. 
BOUCHARDY,  484. 
BOUCHER,  430. 
BOTJCHOR,  495. 
BOUHELIER,  G.  de,  442. 
Boule,  La,  (Meilhac  and  Halevy), 

485. 
Boule  de  Suif  (G.  de  Maupassant), 

438. 
BOURDALOUE,    239,  344-245,  249, 

250. 
Bourgeois  de  Pont-Arcy,  Les,   (V. 

Sardou),  472. 
Bourgeois    Gentilhomme,  Le,  (Mo- 

liere),  221,  229. 
BOURGES,  E.,  430  n.  1. 
BOUGET,    P.,    424,    426,    440-441, 

494. 

BOURGOING,  le  Pere,  239. 
Bourse,  La,  (F.  Ponsard),  483. 
Bouvard  et  P6cuchet  (G.  Flaubert), 

428. 

BRANTOME,  144,  145-146. 
Breton  Cycle,  26-31. 
BRIEUX,  E.,  488. 
Britannicus  (J.  Racine),  199,  204- 

205. 

BRIZEUX,  370. 
BROGLIE,  due  de,  462  . 
BROWNING,  Mrs.,  368  n.  3,  470. 
BRUEYS,  Abbe",  73. 
BRUNET,  448. 


BRUNETIERE,  F.,  102,  119,  175,  225, 

266,  421,  422,  440,  455,  466,  493, 

518. 

Brutus  (Voltaire),  296. 
BUDE,  G.,  108,  109. 
BUFFON,  280,  284,   315-319,   329, 

347. 

Bug  Jargal  (V.  Hugo),  376,  378. 
Burgraves,  Les,  (V.  Hugo),  373,  468. 
BURIDAN,  J.,  101  n.  2,  184. 
BYRON,  363,  371,  372,  382,  383,  384, 

402,  483. 

£a  Ira,  354-355. 

Cabale  des  Importants,  150. 

Cafe"  de  Surate,  Le,  (Bernardin  de 

Saint-Pierre),  347. 
CAIGNIEZ,  335. 
CALDERON,  1,  344. 
Caligula  (A.  Dumas  pere),  407. 
Calila  et  Dimna  (Silvestre  de  Sacy), 

34  n.  4. 
CALVIN,  J.,  110-114,  118,  132,  161 

n.  2,  239. 

Camaraderie,  La,  (E.  Scribe),  482. 
CAMPISTRON,  J.  G.  de,  266. 
Canard  Sauvage,  Le,  (Ibsen),  488 

n.  2. 

Candide  (Voltaire),  292,  303. 
Cantilene  de  Sainte-Eulalie,  14.' 
Cantilene  Saucourt,  14. 
Cantiques    Spirituels    (J.    Racine), 

201. 

CAPDEVILLE,  443. 
Capitaine    Fracasse    (T.    Gautier), 

160,  390. 
CAPUS,  A.,  494. 
Caracteres,  Les,  (La  Bruyere),  263- 

265. 

CARDENAL,  P.,  90. 
Carmagnole,  La,  355. 
Carmen  (P.  M6rimee),  423. 
CARO,  E.  M.,  464. 
CARPANI,  426. 


534 


INDEX 


CARREL,  A.,  458. 
CASTRO,  Guilhelm  de,  177  n.  1. 
Catherine  (J.  Sandeau),  406. 
Catherine  Howard  (A.  Dumas  pere), 

407. 

CATINAT,  N.  de,  145. 
Causeries  du  Lundi  (Sainte-Beuve), 

382,  465. 
CAVEATT,  Le,  398. 
CAYLUS,  Mme.  de,  255. 
CENACLE,  Le,  381,  382,  385,  392. 
Cent  Nouvelles  Nouvelles  (A.  de  La 

Salle),  105. 
CENTLIVRE,.S.,  277. 
Cephise  (H.  Greville),  413. 
Cesar  Birotteau  (Balzac),  419. 
Cesarine  Dietrich  (G.  Sand),  405. 
CHAMBRE  ARDENTE,  121. 
CHAMBRE  BLEUE,  152,  156,  158. 
CHAMFORT,  N.,  352. 
Champion  des  Dames,  Le,  (M.  Le 

Franc),  105. 
Chanson  d'Aliscans,  19. 
Chanson  de  Roland,  13,  19,  20-23, 

25. 
Chanson  des  Gueux  (J.  Richepin), 

446. 

Chanson  des  Saisnes  (J.  Bodel);  31. 
Chansonnier  Historique,  Le,  278. 
Chansons  de  Bilitis  (Louys),  446. 
Chansons  de  Geste,  11,  18,  21,  25, 

107. 

Chansons  de  Toile,  77. 
Chant  du  Depart,  Le,  (M.  J.  Ch&- 

nier),  353. 

Chanticler  (E.  Rostand),  492^493. 
Chants  du  Cre'puscule  (V.  Hugo), 

379. 
Chapeau  de  Faille  d'ltalie,  Le,  (E. 

Labiche),  485. 

CHAPELAIN,  152,  157,  163,  167,  218. 
CHAPELLE,  161  n.  2,  197,  214. 
Characteristics    of     Virtues,      etc. 

(Hall),  263  n.  1. 


Characters  or  Witty  Descriptions, 

etc.  (Overbury),  263  n.  1. 
CHARLEMAGNE,  2,  15,  17,  20,  24,  26, 

27,  136,  375. 

Charles  IX  (M.  J.  Chenier),  353. 
CHARLES  d'ORLEANS,  92,  94-95. 
CHARLIER,  see  GERSON. 
Charlotte  Corday  (F.  Ponsard),  483, 
CHARTIER,  Alain,  61-62,  103. 
Chartreuse  de  Panne,  La,  (Stendhal), 

425,  426. 
CHASLES,  P.,  464. 
CHATEAUBRIAND,     144,    266,    327, 

361-365,  369,  381,  410,  414,  427, 

457,  458,  504,  505. 
Chateaux  en  Espagne,  Les,  (Colin 

d'HarleviUe),  354. 
CHATELET,  marquise  du,  291. 
Chatiments,  Les,  (V.  Hugo),  379. 
CHATTERTON,  344,  387. 
Chatterton  (A.  de  Vigny),  387-388. 
CHAUCER,  38,  45,  380. 
Chaumiere  Indienne,  La,  (Bernar- 

din  de  Saint-Pierre),  347,  348. 
Chemin,    Le   Plus   Court,   Le,   (A. 

Karr),  395. 
Chemin  du  Bois,  Le,  (A.  Theuriet), 

413. 

Chemineau,  Le,  (J.  Richepin),  483. 
CHENIER,  Andrg,  345-346, 381, 387. 
CHENIER,  M.  J.,  353. 
CHERBULIEZ,  V.,  413. 
CHERIE  (E.  de  Goncourt),  430. 
Chevalier  au  Barizel,  Le,  37. 
Chevalier  au  Chainse,  Le,  35. 
Chevalier  au  Lion,  Le,  28. 
Chevalier  de  Maison-Rouge,  Le,  (A. 

Dumas  pere),  408. 
Chevre  d'Or,  La,  (P.  Arene),  443. 
Chevrier,  Le,  (F.  Fabre),  442. 
CHILD,  T.,  454. 

Chonchette  (M.  PreVost),  439. 
CHOPIN,  360,  404. 
Chouana,  Les,  (Balzac),  418. 


535 


INDEX 


CHRESTIEN  DE  TROYES,  27,  28,  29. 
Christian  Institution  (Calvin),  117. 
CHRISTINE  DE  PISAN,  54. 
Chronicles,  55-61. 
Chroniques  du  Temps  de  Charles  IX 

(P.  Merimee),  423. 
Chute  d'un  Ange,  La,  (Lamartine), 

371. 

ClBBER,  C.,  277. 

Cid,  Le,  (CorneUle),  167,  170,  171, 

173,  176-177,  212. 
Cigiie,  La,  (E.  Augier),  479. 
Cinna   (Corneille),   172,   173,   179- 

180. 
Cinq  Semaines  en  Ballon  (J.  Verne), 

413. 

Cinq-Mars  (A.  de  Vigny),  387. 
Cit6  Antique,  La,  (Fustel  de  Cou- 

langes),  461. 
Clairiere,  La,  (M.  Donnay  and  L. 

Descaves),  489  n.  2. 
CLARA  D'ANDXJZE,  80. 
CLARETIE,  J.,  442,  473,  494. 
Clarissa  Harlowe  (Richardson),  342. 
Claude  Gueux  (V.  Hugo),  376,  378. 
Claudie  (G.  Sand),  405. 
Claudine  a  1'Ecole  (Willy),  442. 
Clavijo  (Goethe),  338. 
Clelie  (Mile,  de  Scudery),  154. 
CLEMANGIS,  de,  238. 
CLEMENCE  ISATJRE,  134  n.  2. 
Cleopatre  (V.  Sardou  and  Moreau), 

473  n.  1. 

Cleopatre  Captive  (Jodelle),  140. 
Clitandre  (Corneille),  169,  173. 
Closerie  des  Genets,  La,  (F.  Soulie'), 

410. 

COLBERT,  164,  200. 
COLLEGE  DE  FRANCE,  108  n.  2. 
COLLETET,  170. 

COLLIN  d'HARLEVILLE,  295,  354. 
Colomba  (P.  Merimee),  424. 
Comedie  de  la  Mort  (T.  Gautier), 

390. 


Comedie  des  Come'diens,  La,  (Scud- 

6ry),  168. 
Comedie  des  Tuileries,   La,   (Rich- 

eh'eu),  170. 

Comectie  Francaise,  68  n.  1,  218. 
Comedie    Humaine,    La,    (Balzac), 

419. 

Comediens,  Les,  (C.  Delavigne),  389. 
Comeclies  et  Proverbes  (A.  de  Mus- 

set),  382. 

Commentaires  (Montluc),  144. 
COMMINES,  P.  de,  56,  61,  144. 
Compagnon  du  Tour  de  France,  Le, 

(G.  Sand),  404. 
COMTE,  A.,  452. 
Comte  Kostia,  Le,  (V.  Cherbuliez), 

413. 
Comtesse  d'Escarbagnas,  La,  (Mo- 

liere),  223. 
Comtesse  de  Rudolstadt  (G.  Sand), 

404. 
Comtesse  Sarah,   La,   (G.   Ohnet), 

411. 
Condamnation    de    Banquet,     La, 

(Nicolas  de  La  Chesnaye),  71. 
CONDE,  Prince  de,    154,  200,   220, 

231,  243,  244,  261,  281,  287. 
CONDILLAC,  290,  329. 
CONDORCET,  297,  299,  334,  368. 
Confession  d'un  Enfant  du    Siecle 

(A.  de  Musset),  383. 
Confession  d'une   Jeune   Fille,  La, 

(G.  Sand),  405. 
Confession  du  Sieur  de  Sancy,  La, 

(A.  d'Aubigne),  147. 
Confessions  (J.  J.  Rousseau),  320, 

326. 
Confidences,  Les,  (Lamartine),  372. 

CONPRERIE  DE  LA  PASSION,  68. 
CONGREVE,  290. 

Conjuration  de  Fiesque  (de  Retz), 

260. 
ConquSte  de  Constantinople,  De  la, 

(Villehardouin),  56. 


536 


INDEX 


ConquSte  de  la  Gennanie,  etc.  (F. 

Mignet),  460. 
Conquete  de  Plassans,  La,  (E.  Zola), 

435. 

CONRABT,  V.,  163. 

Consent  de  1813,  Le,  (Erckmann- 

Chatrian),  412. 
Conseils  a  nn  Journaliste  (Voltaire), 

296. 
Considerations,  etc.  (J.  de  Maistre), 

450. 
Considerations,  etc.  (Mme.deStael), 

368. 

Consuelo  (G.  Sand),  404. 
Contagion,  La,  (E.  Augier),  480. 
Contemplations,    Les,   (V.    Hugo), 

379. 
Contemporains,  Leg,  (J.  Lemaitre), 

416,  466. 

Contes  &  Ninon  (E.  Zola),  435. 
Contes  d'Aujourd'hui  (J.  Lemaitre), 

416. 
Contes  d'Espagne  et  d'ltalie  (A.  de 

Musset),  382. 
Contes  de  la  Reine  de  Navarre,  Les, 

(E.  Scribe  and  E.  Legouve"),  482. 
Contes  de  ma  Mere  POye  (C.  Per- 

rault),  70  n.  1. 
Contes   des   Provinces   de    France 

(S<5billot),  447  n.  1. 
Contes  Drdlatiques   (Balzac),   236, 

420. 
Contes     Fantastiques     (Hoffman), 

390. 
Contes  et  Nouvelles  (La  Fontaine), 

233,  236. 
Contes  et  Nouvelles  (T.  Gautier), 

390. 
Contrat  Social,  Le,  (J.  J.  Rousseau), 

52,  321-322. 
Controverse  des  Sexes,  etc.  (Gratien 

du  Pont),  105. 
COOPER,  F.,  363,  418. 
COPERNICUS,  185. 


COPPEE,  F.,  444  n.  1,  445,  494,  506, 

515. 

Corbeaux,  Les,  (H.  Becque),  487. 
Corinne  (Mme.  de  Stael),  366,  367, 

368. 
CORNEILLE,  P^-T3<j\141,  142,  156, 

157,  159,(l66-18ll  190,  197,  199, 

202,  206,  2Wr362,  255,  267,  273, 

300,  358,  468,  483. 
CORNEILLE,  T.,  172. 
Correspondance  Litte'raire,  etc. 

(Grimm),  334. 
COSPIAN,  158. 
Country    Wife,    The,    (Wycherly), 

219  n.  3. 
Coupe  et  les  Levres,  La,   (A.  de 

Musset),  382. 
Cour  de  Paradis,  La,  36. 
COURIER,  P.  L.,  395,  398-400,  458. 
Couronnement  de  Renart,  43. 
Cours  de  Philosophic  Positive  (A. 

Comte),  452. 
Court  Mantel,  Le,  36. 

COURTELINE,  G.,  487. 

COUSIN,  V.,  194,  450,  451-452,  455. 
Coverley,  Sir  R.  de,  (Addison),  277 

n.  1. 

Crainquebille  (A.  France),  416. 
CRAPELET,  90  n.  2. 
CREBILLON,  P.  J.  de,  266,  267-268, 

398  n.  1. 
CRETIN,  G.,  103. 
Crime  de  Sylvestre  Bonnard,   Le, 

(A.  France),  416. 
Crispin,  Rival  de  son   Maitre    (Le 

Sage),  271. 

Critical  Essays  (Diderot),  332. 
Critics,  463-467. 
Critique  de  PEcole  des  Femmes,  La, 

(Moliere),  219. 

Cromwell  (V.  Hugo),  372,  373. 
Cruelle  Enigme  (P.  Bourget),  440. 
Curee,  La,  (E.  Zola),  435. 
CUREL,  F.  de,  488,  489. 


537 


INDEX 


Curial,  Le  (Alain  Chartier),  61. 
CURY,  494. 

OUSTING,  Mme.  de,  369. 
Cyclopoedia  (Chambers),  328. 
Cyrano  de  Bergerac  (E.  Rostand), 
162,  491,  492,  493. 

DACIER,  Mme.,  213. 

Dalila  (O.  Feuillet),  412. 

Dame  aux  Camelias,  La,  (A.  Dumas 
fils),  474,  475,  476,  479. 

Dancing  Songs,  77. 

DANCOURT,  F.  D.,  271,  275. 

DANES,  109. 

Danse  Macabre,  71. 

DANTE,  5,  51,  53,  82,  88,  89,  106, 
386,  402. 

Dante,  Le,  (V.  Sardou),  472. 

DARWIN,  331. 

DAUBENTON,  315,  329. 

DATTDET,  A.,  417,  430-433,  442. 

DAUDET,  L.,  442. 

David  (A.  de  Montchre'tien) ,  140. 

DAVID,  d'Angers,  360,  369  n.  1. 

De  Arte  Amandi  (Ovid),  48. 

De  Arte  Amatoria,  etc.  (Andre),  84. 

De  Buonaparte,  etc.  (Chateaubri- 
and), 364. 

De  1'Allemagne  (Mme.  de  Stael), 
367,  368. 

De  1' Amour  (Stendhal),  426. 

De  1'Esprit  (Helvetius),  284. 

De  1'Intelligence  (H.  Taine),  455. 

De  la  Litterature,  etc.  (Mme.  de 
Stael),  366. 

De  la  Peinture  en  Italic  (Stendhal), 
426. 

De  la  Terre  a  la  Lune  (J.  Verne), 
413. 

De  Vulgari  Eloquentia,  etc.  (Dan- 
te), 5. 

Debacle,  La,  (E.  Zola),  435,  436, 
437. 

De"bat  de  1'Ame  et  du  Corps,  47. 


DECADENTS,  445,  446,  447. 

Decameron    (Boccaccio),    70   n.    1, 
105,  148,  236. 

Dedale,  Le,  (P.  Hervieu),  489. 

Defense   et   Illustration,   etc.    (Du 
Bellay),  132. 

DEFFAND,  Mme.  du,  282,  283. 

DEFOE,  497. 

DELACROIX,  360. 

DELAVIGNE,  C.,  388-389. 

DELILLE,  Abbe1,  343-344,  359. 

Deliquescences,    Les,     (Floupette), 
445. 

Delphine  (Mme.  de  Stael),  366,  367. 

DELPHINE  GAY,  484. 

Demi-Monde,  Le,  (A.  Dumas  fils), 
475. 

Demi-Vierges,    Les,    (M.    PreVost), 
439. 

Democratic  en  AmeVique,  La,  (A. 
de  Tocqueville),  461. 

DEMOGEOT,  78,  174,  252. 

Denise  (A.  Dumas  fils),  478. 

DENNERY,  484. 

De"pit  Amoureux,  Le,  (Moliere),  217. 

Der  Schiffbruch,  (J.  Brandes),  342. 

Deracin6s,  Les,  (M.  Barres),  441. 

Dernier  Abence>age,  Le,  (Chateau- 
briand), 80  n.  1,  364,  369. 

Dernier  Banquet  des  Girondins,  Le, 
(C.  Nodier),  393. 

Dernier  Jour  d'un  Condamne1,  Le, 
(V.  Hugo),  376,  378. 

Derniers  Bretons,  Les,  (E.  Souves- 
tre),  413. 

DEROULEDE,  P.,  494. 

Des  Vers  (G.  de  Maupassant),  437. 

De'sastre,  Le,  (P.  Margueritte),  441. 

Desastre    de    Lisbonne,    Le,    (Vol- 
taire), 303. 

DESAUGIERS,  398. 

T>ESCARTES,  R.,  186-187,  193,  210A 
V   252,  291. 

DESCAVES,  L.,  430  n.  1. 


538 


INDEX 


DESCHAMPS,  E.,  381. 

DESCHAMPS,  G.,  416. 

De'senchante's,  Les,  (P.  Loti),  414. 

De'serteur,  Le,  (Mercier),  336. 

DESMARETS    de    Saint-Sorlin,    163, 
166,  198. 

DESMOULINS,  C.,  353,  503. 

DESPERIEES,  B.,  111. 

DESPORTES,  137. 

Destinies,  Les,  (A.  de  Vigny),  386, 
388. 

DESTOUCHES,  275,  277,  341,  463. 

Deuil  du  Clocher,  Le,  (J.  Ageorges), 
443. 

Deux  Changeurs,  Les,  35. 

Deux  Orphelines,  Les,   (Dennery), 
484. 

Devin  de  Village,  Le,  (J.  J.  Rous- 
seau), 320. 

Diable  Boiteux,  Le,  (Le  Sage),  271. 

Dialogue  des  Morts  (Fe"nelon),  246. 

Diana    enamorada    (Montemayor), 
153. 

Diane  (Rotrou),  168. 

Diane  de  Lys  (A.  Dumas  fils),  475. 

DIANE  de  Poitiers,  130. 

DICKENS,  C.,  421,  432. 

Dictionnaire  des  Onomatope'es  (C. 
Nodier),  393. 

Dictionnaire  Historique,  etc.(Bayle), 
273. 

Dictionnaire    Philosophique     (Vol- 
taire), 295. 

Dictionnaire    Universel,     etc.     (C. 
Nodier),  393. 

DIDEROT,  283,  284,  296,  323,  329, 

330,  331-333,  335,  340. 
Didon  se  sacrifiant  (Jodelle),  140. 
Digression  sur  les  Modernes  (Fon- 

tenelle),  273. 

Dionysos  (J.  Gasquet),  494. 
Diplomats,    Le,  (Scribe  and  Dela- 

vigne),  389. 
Disciple,  Le,  (P.  Bourget),  440. 


Discours  de  la  M6thode  (Descartes),  \ 

186. 
Discours  de  Reception,  etc.  (Buffon), 

317  n.  1. 
Discours    des   Trois    Unites    (Cor- 

neille),  206. 
Discours    Politiques    et    Militairea 

(La  Noue),  145. 
Discours  sur  1'Histoire  Universelle 

(Bossuet),  240-241,  243. 
Discoura  sur  rHomme   (Voltaire), 

292. 
Discours  sur  rin^galite",  etc.  (J.  J. 

Rousseau),  52,  321. 
Discours  sur  les  Miseres,  etc.  (Ron- 
sard),  142. 
Discours  sur  les  Sciences,  etc.  (J.  J. 

Rousseau),  321. 
Distrait,  Le,  (Regnard),  270. 
Dit  de  BeYenger,  36. 
Dits,  45. 
Divorce,  Le,  (P.  Bourget  and  Cury), 

494  n.  6. 

Divorgons  (V.  Sardou),  472. 
Dix  Annees  d'Exil  (Mme.  de  Stael), 

368. 
Dix  Ans  d'Etudes  Historiques  (A. 

Thierry),  459. 

Dix  Contes  (J.  Lemaitre),  416. 
Docteur    Akakia,    Le,    (Voltaire), 

294. 
Docteur  Herbaut,  Le,  (J.  Sandeau), 

406. 

Docteur  Pascal,  Le,  (E.  Zola),  435. 
Docteur  Rameau,  Le,  (G.  Ohnet), 

411. 
Doigts  de  Fee,  Les,  (Scribe  and  Le- 

gouv6),  482. 
DOLET,  E.,  110,  113. 
Don  Ce'sar  de  Bazan  (Dennery), 

484. 
Don  Japhet  d'Anne'nie  (Scarron), 

216. 
Don  Juan  (Byron),  382. 


539 


INDEX 


Don  Juan  ou  le  Festin  de  Pierre 

(Moliere),  219,  229. 
DONNAY,  M.,  489. 
Doon  de  Mayence,  19. 
Dora  (V.  Sardou),  472. 
DORAT,  J.,  109,  132. 
Dosia  (H.  Gr^viHe),  413. 
DOTTMIC,  R.,  477,  490,  496. 
Dramatic  Opinions  (B.  Shaw),  472 

n.  2. 

Drame  d'Adam,  Le,  64. 
Drame    des    Prophetes   du   Christ, 

Le,  63. 
Drames  de  Famille   (P.  Bourget), 

441. 
Drames  Philosophiques  (E.  Renan), 

454. 

Droits  Nouveaux  (Coquillart),  73. 
DRYDEN,  215. 
Dtr  BARRY,  Mme.,  280. 
Du  BARTAS,  118. 
Du  BELLAY,  G.,  144. 
Du  BELLAY,  J.,  129,  132-133,  140, 

142. 

Du  BOCCAGE,  277. 
Du  CANGE,  83  n.  1,  335. 
Du  CERCEAU,  253  n.  2. 
Du  Pape  (J.  de  Maistre),  450. 
Du  PERRON,  239. 
Du  RYER,  166. 

Du  Theatre,  etc.  (Mercier),  358. 
Du  Vrai,  du  Beau,  etc.  (V.  Cousin), 

452. 

Ducis,  353-354. 
DUCLOS,  283. 

DUFRESNY,  271,  275,  309. 
DUMAS,  A.,  fils,  468,  473,  474-478, 

479,  486,  490. 
DUMAS,  A.,  pere,  398,  406-410,  468, 

474,  484,  506,  518. 
DUNS  SCOTUS,  183. 
Dupe,  La,  (G.  Ancey),  488. 
DUPONT  de  Nemours,  330,  331. 
DUVERNET,  Abbe",  299. 


ECHEGAKAY,  449. 

Ecole  des  Femmes,  L',  (Moliere), 
219. 

Ecole  des  Maris,  L',  (Molifere),  219. 

Ecole  des  Meres,  L',  (Nivelle  de  La 
Chauss<§e),  341. 

Ecole  des  Vieillards,  L',  (C.  Dela- 
vigne),  389. 

Ecole  Naturiste,  442. 

Ecossaise,  L',  (Montchre"tien),  140. 

Ecossaise,  L',  (Voltaire),  303. 

Edouard  Manet  (E.  Zola),  435. 

Education  Sentimentale,  L',  (Flau- 
bert), 427. 

Effrontes,  Les,  (E.  Augier),  479,  480. 

EGINHARD,  20  n.  3. 

EIDONS,  329. 

EILHARD  Von  OBERGE,  30. 

El  Diablo  Cojuelo  (Guevara),  271. 

Elements  de  Philosophie  (d'Alem- 
bert),  333. 

Elements  de  la  Philosophie  de  New- 
ton (Voltaire),  291. 

Elements  d'Ide'ologie  (Destut  de 
Tracy),  368  n.  2. 

Elevations  sur  les  Mysteres  (Bos- 
suet),  243.  . 

ELIOT,  G.,  440. 

Elle  et  Lui  (G.  Sand),  405. 

Eloges  (d'Alembert),  333. 

Eloges  des  Acade"miciens  (Fonte- 
nelle),  273. 

Emaux  et  Camees  (T.  Gautier),  390. 

Emigre,  L',  (P.  Bourget),  441. 

Emile  (J.  J.  Rousseau),  322-323, 
325. 

Emilia  Galotti  (Lessing),  332.     . 

Emperor  Who  Condemned  To 
Death  His  Nephew,  The,  70. 

En  Manage  (Huysmans),  439. 

En  Route  (Huysmans),  439. 

ENCLOS,  Ninon  de  L',  255,  286-288. 

Encyclopedic,  284,  296,  328-330, 
333. 


540 


INDEX 


ENCYCLOPEDISTS,    127,    161,    280, 

282,  323,  334. 

Endriague,  L',  (Piron),  343. 
Endymion  (Gombaud),  157. 
Enfant  Prodigue,  L',  (H.  Becque), 

486. 
Enfant    Prodigue,    L',    (Voltaire), 

291. 
Enfants  d'Edouard,  Lea,  (C.  Dela- 

vigne),  389. 

ENFANTS  SANS  Souci,  69. 
Enfer,  L',  (Marot),  130. 
Engrenage,  L',  (E.  Brieux),  488. 
Enigme,  L',  (P.  Hervieu),  490. 
Enlevement,  L',  (H.  Becque),  486. 
Enlevement    de    la    Redoute,    L', 

(Merimee),  423. 
Entretiens,  etc.  (Fontenelle),   161, 

273. 
Envers  d'une  Sainte  (F.  de  Curel), 

488. 

EPICURUS,  185  n.  9. 
EPINAY,  Mme.  d',  283,  323. 
Epitres  (Boileau),  209. 
Epreuve,  L',  (Marivaux),  340. 
ERASMUS,  112. 
ERCKMANN-CHATRIAN,  412. 
Erec  and  Enide,  28. 
Esprit  des  Lois,  L',  (Montesquieu), 

276,  283,  310,  311-313,  321. 
Esprits,  Les,  (Larivey),  142. 
Esquisse,  etc.  (Condorcet),  334. 
Essai  sur  1'Art  Dramatique  (Mer- 

cier),  336. 
Essai  sur  la  Ve'rite',  etc.  (Diderot), 

331. 
Essai  sur  le  Despotisme  (Mirabeau), 

351. 
Essai  sur  les  Institutions  Sociales 

(Ballanche),  451. 
Essai  sur  les  Lettres  de  Cachet,  etc. 

(Mirabeau),  351. 
Essai  sur  les  MOBUTS  (Voltaire),  293, 

303. 


Essai  sur  les  Revolutions  (Chateau- 
briand), 362. 

Essais  (Montaigne),  126. 

Essais  de  Psychologic  Contempo- 
raine  (P.  Bourget),  440. 

ESTEVANVILLB  GONZALEZ,  272. 

Esther  (Racine),  201,  207-208,  356. 

ESTIBNNE,  H.,  118. 

ESTIENNE,  R.  and  H.,  109. 
Etape,  L',  (P.  Bourget),  441. 
Ethici  Charakteres  (Theophrastua), 

263  n.  1. 

Ethics  (Aristotle),  47. 
Ethics  (Spinoza),  187. 
Etourdi,  L',  (Moliere),  142,  217. 
fitrangere,  L',  (A.  Dumas  fils),  477. 
Etudes,  etc.  (Chateaubriand),  457. 
Etudes  Analytiquea,  etc.  (Balzac), 

419. 
Etudes  de  la  Nature  (Bernardin  de 

Saint-Pierre),  347. 
Etudes   sur   la   Revolution   Fran- 

caise  (C.  Nodier),  393. 
Eugenie  Grandet  (Balzac),  419, 422, 
Euphues  (Lyly),  154. 
Evangeliste,  L',  (A.  Daudet),  432. 
Evolution  des  Genres,  etc.  (Brune- 

tiere),  466. 

Exilee,  L',  (P.  Loti),  415. 
Explication  des  Maximes,  etc.  (F4n- 

elon),  242. 
Exposition  de   la   Foi   Catholique 

(Bossuet),  240. 

Fables  (Fenelon),  246. 
Fables  (Florian),  344. 
Fables  (La  Fontaine),  233-235. 
Fabliaux,  34-54. 

Fabliaux,  Les,  (J.  Beclier),  35  a.  1. 
FABRE,  F.,  442. 
FABRE  d'EaLANTiNB,  354. 
Fdcheux,  Les,  (Moliere),  219. 
FAGUET,  E.,  82,  127,  174,  202,  424, 
437,  465,  466,  467,  491. 


541 


INDEX 


Famille  Benoiton,  La,  (V.  Sardou), 

471. 
Famine,  La,  etc.  (Jean  de  la  Taille), 

140. 

Fantome,  Le,  (P.  Bourget),  441. 
Farce  de  Maitre  Pathelin,  La,  73-74. 
Farces,  72-74. 
FAREL,  111. 
Fatraisies,  45. 
FAUGERE,  194. 
FAURIEL,  80. 
Fausses    Confidences,    Les,    (Mari- 

vaux),  340. 

Faust  (Goethe),  65,  358. 
Faustin,  La,  (E.  de  Goncourt),  430. 
Faute  de  1'Abbe  Mouret,  La,   (E. 

Zola),  435. 

Fecondite  (E.  Zola),  436. 
Fedora  (V.  Sardou),  469. 
FELIBRES,  448. 

Femme,  La,  (A.  Bisson),  494  n.  2. 
Femme  au  XVIIIeme  Siecle,   La, 

(E.  and  J.  de  Goncourt),  429. 
Femme  de  Claude,  La,  (A.  Dumas 

fils),  476. 
Femme  de  Trente  Ans,  La,  (Balzac), 

419. 
Femmes  Savantes,  Les,   (Moliere), 

155,  223,  225,  227-228. 
FENELON,  213,  239,  242,  245-247, 

255,  266. 

Fernande  (V.  Sardou),  331,  471. 
Feuilles  d'Automne  (V.  Hugo),  379, 

380. 
FEUILLET,  O.,  405,  411-412,  414, 

484,  518. 

FEYDEAXJ,  G.,  494. 
FICHTE,  452. 
Fille   d'Eschyle,   La,    (J.   Autran), 

483. 
Fille  de  Roland,  La,  (H.  de  Bornier), 

483. 
Fille   du   Cid,  La,   (C.  Delavigne), 

389. 


Fille  Elisa,  La,  (E.  de  Goncourt), 

430. 
Fille  Sauvage,  La,   (F.  de  Curel), 

488. 

FILON,  A.,  433,  489. 
Fils  de  Giboyer,  Le,   (E.  Augier), 

479. 

Fils  de  la  Terre  (Capdeville),  443. 
Fils  Naturel,  Le,  (Diderot),  332. 
Fils  Naturel,  Le,  (A.  Dumas  fils), 

477. 

Flatteur,  Le,  (J.  B.  Rousseau),  269. 
FLAUBERT,  G.,  361,  417,  427-428, 

437,  455. 

FLECHIER,  E.,  239,  247-248,  255. 
FLEURY,  J.,  481. 
Flirt  (P.  Hervieu),  489. 
Floovant,  14,  19. 
Folie  du  Sage,  La,  (Tristan  L'Her- 

mite),  168. 
Fonds  de  Giboyer,  Le,  (L.  Veuillot), 

480. 

FONTAINE,  N.,  190. 
FONTANES,  359. 
FONTENELLE,  161,  161  n.  2,  273- 

274,  281,  287. 
Force  des  Choses,  La,  (P.  Marguer- 

itte),  441. 
Formation    Territoriale,    etc.,    La, 

(F.  Mignet),  460. 
FORMET,  J.,  263. 
Fort  en  Theme  (A.  Karr),  395. 
Fortune  des  Rougon,  La,  (E.  Zola), 

435. 

Fortunio  (T.  Gautier),  390. 
Fossiles,  Les,  (F.  de  Curel),  483. 
Foulke  Fitz-Warin,  34. 
FOUQUET,  231,  251,  256. 
Fourberies  de  Scapin,  Les,  (Moliere), 

161,  168,  223. 
Fourchambault,   Les,   (E.   Augier), 

480. 

FOURIER,  C.,  404. 
FRAGONARD,  430. 


542 


INDEX 


Franc  Archer  de  Bagnolet,  Le,  105. 
FRANCE,  A.,  35,  303,  415-416,  433, 

440,  445,  453,  463,  465,  466,  515 

n.  2. 
France   Merveilleuse,   La,    (Se"billot 

and  Gaudoz),  447  n.  1. 
Francesca  da  Rimini   (Dante),   27 

n.  2. 

Franciade,  La,  (Ronsard),  135. 
Francillon  (A.  Dumas  fils),  478. 
FRANCIS  I,  King,  70,  108,  109,  110, 

121,  123,  125,  130,  131,  132,  146, 

376. 

Francois  le  Champi  (G.  Sand),  405. 
FRANKLIN,  B.,  280,  284,  299,  395. 
FREDERICK  THE  GREAT,  284,  293, 

294,  295. 

Frederique  (M.  Provost),  439. 
French  Press,  497-518. 
Freres  Ennemis,  Les,    (J.  Racine), 

197. 
Freres  Zemganno,  Les,  (E.  de  Gon- 

court),  430. 

FROISSART,  25,  59,  88,  144,  266. 
Fromont  jeune  et  Risler    ain6  (A. 

Daudet),  432. 

FRONDE,  La,  150, 151, 191,  252,  260. 
Frou-Frou   (Meilhac  and  HaleVy), 

485. 

FURETIERE,  A.,  162,  197. 
Furie,  La,  (J.  Bois),  494  n.  1. 
FUSTEL  de  COULANGES,  461. 

Gabrielle  (E.  Augier),  479. 
Gageure  ImpreVue,  La,  (Sedaine), 

160,  335. 

Gai  Savoir,  Gaie  Science,  57  n.  1. 
Galerie  du  Palais,   La,  (Corneille), 

169,  173. 

GALIANI,  Abbe",  284. 
GALILEO,  185. 
GALLIOT  DU  PHE,  105. 
GALVANI,  280. 
GAMBETTA,  471. 


GANDILLOT,  L.,  494. 

GARAT,  368. 

Gargantua,  119-120,  393. 

Garin  de  Monglane,  19. 

GARNIER,  R.,  140. 

GAUTHIER-GARGUILLE,  168,  216. 

GAUTIER,  L.,  15,  18,  20,  21,  25  n. 
1,  26. 

GAUTIER,  T.,  160,  360,  361,  370, 
389-391,  444,  463,  478,  505. 

GAUTIER  DE  COINCY,  65. 

GAUTIER  LE  LONG,  36,  44. 

Gavant,  Minard  et  Cie  (Gondinet), 
485. 

GAY,  290. 

Gazette  de  Soret,  158  n.  1. 

Gendre  de  M.  Poirier,  Le,  (E.  Aug- 
ier), 406,  479. 

Genevieve  (A.  Karr),  395. 

Genevieve  (Lamartine),  372. 

G£nie  du  Christianisme,  Le,  (Cha- 
teaubriand), 362,  363, 

GENLIS,  Mme.  de,  369. 

GEOFFRIN,  Mme.,  282. 

GEOFFROY,  G.,  430  n.  1. 

GEOFFROY,  J.  L.,  463-464. 

George  Dandin  (Moliere),  36,  72, 
221. 

GERICAULT,  360. 

Germanicus  (A.  V.  Arnault),  353. 

Germinal  (E.  Zola),  435,  437. 

Germinie  Lacerteux  (E.  and  J.  de 
Goncourt),  429. 

GERSON,  51,  53,  238. 

Gerusalemme  Liberata  (Tasso),  26. 

GERUZEZ,  257,  464. 

Geschichte  der  Englischen  Literal  ur 
(Ten  Brink),  34  n.  8. 

Gesta  Dagoberti,  15. 

GIBBON,  284. 

GIERA,  448. 

Gil  Bias  (Le  Sage),  272. 

GILBERT,  344,  387. 

GIRARDIN,  Mme.  de,  369. 


543 


INDEX 


GlRARDON,  255. 

Girart  de  Roussillon,  20,  80  n.  2. 

Girart  de  Viane,  19. 

Giratrz  de  Rousilho,  26. 

GIRONDINS,  285,  356. 

Gismonda  (V.  Sardou),  472. 

GH  Sdegni  Amorosi,  217  n.  2. 

GLICHEZARB,  H.,  45. 

Glorieux,  Le,  (Destouches),  341. 

GODARD,  141. 

GODEAU,  129,  158,  163. 

GODFREY  OP  MONMOUTH,  28,  30. 

GOETHE,  42  n.  1,  160,  221  n.  2,  276, 
281,  298,  323,  324,  331,  338,  356, 
357,  358,  360,  363,  367,  394,  395, 
447. 

Goffredo  (Tasso),  26. 

GOMBAUD,  157,  163. 

GONCOURT,  E.  and  J.,  417,  428-430, 
487  n.  1. 

GONDINET,  E.,  485. 

GONGORA,  153,  154. 

GOTTFRIED  Von  STRASSBTJRG,  30. 

GOTTSCHED,  215. 

GOUDIMEL,  118. 

GOURNAY,  de,  330. 

Grail,  The,  (Robert  de  Boron),  29. 

Grand  Careme  (Massillon),  250. 

Grand  Testament  (F.  Villon),  97. 

Grandeur  et  Decadence,  etc.  (Mon- 
tesquieu), 311. 

Grandison  (Richardson),  342. 

GRANDS  RHETORIQUEURS,  129. 

GRAB,  F.,  449. 

Graziella  (Lamartine),  372. 

Grece  Contemporaine,  La,  (E. 
About),  412. 

CRESSET,  275,  343. 

GREVILLE,  H.,  413. 

GRIMM,  Baron,  283,  323,  329,  330, 
331,  334,  503. 

GRINGOIRE,  70. 

Griselidis,  70. 

GROS,  360. 


GROS-GmLLATTME,   168,  216. 

GROSS,  Erhart,  70  n.  1. 
Grotesques,  Les,  (T.  Gautier),  390. 
GRUET,  J.,  112. 
Gu6pes,  Les,  (A.  Karr),  395. 
Guerre  au  Village,  La,  (Trarieux), 
488  n.  1. 

GtTILBERT  DE  BERNEVILLE,  91  D..   1. 

Guillaume  au  Faucon,  35. 

GTJILLAUME  DE  LORRIS,  45,  48-50. 

GUINAXTLT,  Mile.,  283. 

GOTRAUD,  381. 

GUIRAUT  DE  BORNEIL,  88. 

Guirlande  de  Julie,  156. 

GTJIZOT,  164, 452, 458, 459-460,  518. 

Gulliver's  Travels  (Swift),  161. 

GUTENBERG,  107  n.  1. 

GUYON,  Mme.,  242,  n.  1. 

GUYOT  DE  PROVINS,  45. 

Guzla,  La,  (P.  MerimSe),  423. 

GYP,  443,  506. 

HABERT,  163. 
HALEVY,  L.,  485,  486. 
Hamburgische    Dramaturgic    (Les- 

sing),  206  n.  1. 
HAMILTON,  394. 
HAMON,  196. 

Han  d'Islande  (V.  Hugo),  376,  378. 
HARDY,  A.,  141,  166. 
HARDY,  T.,  486. 
Harmonies  de  la  Nature,  Les,  (Ber- 

nardin  de  Saint-Pierre),  347. 
Harmonies  Poe'tiques  (Lamartine), 

371. 

HAUPTMANN,  488. 
HAURANNE,  Duvergier  de,  188. 
HAVET,  194,  518. 
HEGEL,  452. 
HEINE,  75,  395,  447. 
HELVETIUS,  C.  A.,  283,  329. 
HELVETIUS,  Mme.,  368. 
HENAULT,  283. 
HENNIQUE,  430  n.  1,  487  n.  1. 


544 


INDEX 


Henri  III  et   sa  Cour  (A.  Dumas 

pere),  407. 

Henriade,  La,  (Voltaire),  290. 
Henriette  Marshal  (E.  and  J.  de 

Goncourt),  429. 
HENRY  IV,  118  n.  3,  142  n.  2,  145, 

146,  153. 
Heptameron  (Marguerite  de  Valois), 

148. 

HEREDIA,  J.  M.  de,  445. 
Hermann  and  Dorothea  (Goethe), 

356. 

Heraani  (V.  Hugo),  360,  389. 
HERVIEU,  P.,  489-490. 
Histoire    Amoureuse    des    Gaules 

(Bussy-Rabutin),  255. 
Histoire  Ancienne,  L',  (Rollin),  268. 
Histoire  Comique,  etc.  (Cyrano  de 

Bergerac),  161. 
Histoire  de  Charles  XII  (Voltaire), 

291,  292-293,  309. 
Histoire  de  France  (Michelet),  461. 
Histoire  de  Jenni  (Voltaire),  304. 
Histoire  de  I'Acad&nie  (Fontenelle), 

273. 
Histoire    de    la    Civilisation,    etc. 

(Guizot),  459. 
Histoire  de  la  Conquete  de  1'Angle- 

terre,  etc.  (A.  Thierry),  458. 
Histoire  de  la  Litte'rature  Anglaise 

(H.  Taine),  455. 
Histoire    de    la   Revolution   Fran- 

caise  (Michelet),  461. 
Histoire   de    la   Revolution   Fran- 

caise  (F.  Mignet),  460. 
Histoire   de    la   Revolution   Fran- 

Saise  (A.  Thiers),  460. 
Histoire   de   la  Soci6t6   Francaise, 

etc.  (E.  and  J.  de  Goncourt),  429. 
Histoire  de  ma  Vie  (G.  Sand),  405. 
Histoire    de    Port-Royal    (Sainte- 

Beuve),  465. 
Histoire  de  Saint-Louis  (Joinville), 

56. 


Histoire  des  Dues  de  Bourgogne 
(Barante),  458. 

Histoire  des  Girondins  (Lamartine), 
370. 

Histoire  des  Institutions  Politiques, 
etc.  (Fustel  de  Coulanges),  461. 

Histoire  des  Origines,  etc.  (E.  Re- 
nan),  453. 

Histoire  des  Treize  (Balzac),  419. 

Histoire  des  Variations,  etc.  (Bos- 
suet),  240. 

Histoire  du  Consulat,  etc.  (A. 
Thiers),  460. 

Histoire  du  Peuple  d'Israel  (E. 
Renan),  453. 

Histoire  du  Romantisme  (T.  Gau- 
tier),  360. 

Histoire  d'un  Crime  (V.  Hugo),  378 . 

Histoire  G6n6rale,  etc.  (Guizot), 
459. 

Histoire  Natureile,  etc.  (Buffon), 
315-317. 

Histoire  Veritable  (Montesquieu), 
309. 

Historia  Regum  Britanniae  (God- 
frey of  Monmouth),  28,  30. 

HISTORIANS,  457-462. 

History  of  English  Poetry  (Court- 
hope),  48  n.  1. 

History  of  Philosophy  (Schwegler), 
182  n.  3. 

HOLBACH,  d',  283,  284,  323,  329. 

HOLBEIN,  72  n.  2,  110  n.  3,  446. 

HOMER,  51,  136,  171,  345,  372. 

Homme  a  TOreiHe  Cassee,  L',  (E. 
About),  412. 

Homme  aux  Quarante  Ecus,  L', 
(Voltaire),  303. 

Homme-Femme,  L,'  (A.  Dumas 
fils),  477. 

Homme  Machine,  L',  (La  Mettrie), 
284. 

Homme  Plante,  L',  (La  Mettrie), 
284. 


36 


545 


INDEX 


Homme  Qui  Kit,  L',  (V.  Hugo),  149 
n.  1,  376,  378. 

Honneur  et  1'Argent,  L',  (Ponsard), 
483. 

HORACE,  395. 

Horace  (Corneille),  172, 173, 177-178. 

Housse  Partie,  La,  (Bemier),  37. 

HTJET,  213. 

HUGO,  V.,  149  n.  1,  159,  167  n.  2, 
360,  361,  369,  370,  372-381,  382, 
385,  385  n.  2,  389,  398,  421  n.  2, 
425,  447,  468,  479,  483,  484,  495, 
505. 

HUGUES  DE  BERZY,  45. 

HUME,  D.,  325. 

HUMORISTS,  392-395. 

HUNEKER,  J.,  426,  490. 

HUTTEN,  Ulrich  von,  113. 

HUYGHENS,  287. 

HUYSMANS,  430  n.  1,  438-439. 

lambes  (A.  Barbier),  400. 
lambes  (A.  Che'nier),  345. 
IBSEN,  488,  489,  490. 
Ide"es  de  Mme.  Aubray,   Les,   (A. 

Dumas  fils),  476. 
Idylls  of  the  King  (Tennyson),  28 

n.  2. 

IFFLAND,  332. 

II  Filocopo  (Boccaccio),  31  n.  3. 
II  Pianto  (A.  Barbier),  400. 
II  Vero  Amico  (Goldoni),  332. 
Iliad,  13,  213. 
Ille  et  Galeron,  34. 
Illusion  Comique,    L',    (Corneille), 

170,  173. 

Immortel,  L',  (A.  Daudet),  432. 
Imperia  (Valmy-Boysse),  494. 
Impressions  de  Theatre  (J.  Lemai- 

tre),  416,  466. 
Impressions  de  Voyage  (A.  Dumas 

pere),  408. 
Impromptu  de  Versailles,  L',  (Mo- 

liere),  219. 


Inavvertito,  L',  (Barbieri),  217  n.  1. 

Incas,  Les,  (Marmontel),  344. 

Inde  sans  les  Anglais,  L',  (P.  Loti), 
415. 

Indiana  (G.  Sand),  403,  405. 

Inge"nu,  L',  (Voltaire),  303. 

Institution  Chre"tienne  (Calvin),  111, 
239. 

Interesse,  L',  (Seccbi),  217  n.  2. 

Introduction  to  the  Categories  (Por- 
phyry), 182. 

Intruse,  L',  (Maeterlinck),  491. 

Inutile  Effort,  L',  (E.  Rod),  441. 

Iphige'nie  (Racine),  199. 

Irene  (Voltaire),  299. 

Isclo  d'Or,  Les,  (Mistral),  449. 

Isolee,  L',  (R.  Bazin),  443. 

Israel  (Bernstein),  494  n.  5. 

Itine"raire,  etc.  (Chateaubriand), 
364. 

Ivanhoe  (W.  Scott),  457. 

Jack  (A.  Daudet),  431. 

Jacquerie,  La,  (P.  Me'rim^e),  423. 

Jacques  (G.  Sand),  403. 

JACQUES  DE  BAISIEUX,  44. 

Jacques  le  Fataliste  (Diderot),  331. 

JAMES,  H.,  420. 

JANIN,  J.,  463,  505,  507,  513. 

JANSENISTS,  188-193,  240. 

JANSENIUS,  188. 

Jardin  de  Be're'nice,  Le,  (M.  Barres), 

441. 

JASMIN,  448-449. 
Jean  de  la  Roche  (G.  Sand),  405. 
JEAN  DE  MEUNG,  11,  46,  49-54. 
Jean  de  Thommeray  (E.  Augier), 

480. 

Jean  des  Figues  (P.  Arene),  443. 
JEAN  THE  GAUL,  44. 
JEANNE  D'Aac,  60  n.  1. 
Jeu  de  PAmour,   etc.,   Le,   (Mari- 

vaux),  340. 
Jeu  de  la  Resurrection,  Le,  64. 


546 


INDEX 


Jeu  de  Saint-Nicholas,  Le,  (J.  Bo- 
del),  64. 

Jeu  du  Prince  des  Sots,  Le,  (Grin- 
goire),  70. 

Jeune  Veuve,  La,  (Gautier  le  Long), 
36. 

JEUX  FLORAUX,  134,  354,  380,  448. 

Jocelyn  (Lamartine),  371. 

Jodelet  ou  le  Maitre  Valet  (Scarron), 
160. 

JODELLE,  132,  140,  141. 

JOHNSON,  290. 

Joie  de  Vivre,  La,  (E.  Zola),  435. 

Joie  Fait  Peur,  La,  (Delphine  Gay), 
484,  505. 

JOINVILLE,  25,  57,  144. 

Jongleur  de  Notre-Dame,  Le,  (A. 
France),  66  n.  1. 

JONGLEURS,  15-18. 

Joseph  of  Arimathea,  29. 
JOUBERT,  J.,  244,  369,  452-453. 
Joueur,  Le,  (Regnard),  270. 
Joueur  de  Flute,  Le,  (E.  Augier), 

479. 

JOTJFFROY,  450,  452. 
Journal  des  Goncourt  (E.  de  Gon- 

court),  430. 

Joyzelle  (Maeterlinck),  491. 
Judgment  of  Renart,  42. 
Jugement  Dernier,  Le,  (Marshal), 

353. 

Juif  Errant,  Le,  (E.  Sue),  410,  506. 
Juives,  Les,  (R.  Gamier),  140. 
Julia  de  Trecoeur  (O.  Feuillet),  412, 

484. 
Julie  ou  la  Nouvelle  He'loise  (J.  J. 

Rousseau),  283,  324. 
JULLIEN,  J.,  487,  494. 
JUNTOS,  399. 

JtJSSIEN,  280. 

JUVENAL,  51,  400. 


Kabbala,  The,  185  n.  11. 
KANT,  452. 


Karl  Moor  (Schiller),  393. 

KARR,  A.,  392,  394-395,  507,  513. 

KEPLER,  185. 

King  Lear,  37. 

KLOPSTOCK,  367,  386. 

KOCK,  P.  de,  411. 

KOEHLER,  Reinhold,  34. 

KOTZEBUE,  332. 

KRILOFP  (KRILOV),  235  n.  4,  332. 

LA  BARRE,  de,  299  n.  1. 

LA  BAUMELLE,  293. 

LA  BRUYERE,  123,  174,  219  n.  1, 

243,  255,  261-265,  266. 
LA  CALPRENEDE,  166,  257. 
LA  CHAUSSEE,  N.  de,  277,  341. 
LA  CONDAMINE,  329. 
LACTJRNE  de  SAINTE-PALAYE,  90 
,    n.  1. 
LA  FAYETTE,  Mme.  de,   155,  201,} 

255,  257-258,  276,  278. 
'LA  FONTAINE,  38,  43,  45,  103  n.  1, 

129,  196,  197,  213,  214,  223,  225, 

231-237,  255,  345,  395. 
La    Fontaine    et    ses    Fables    (H. 

Taine),  236. 

LA  HARPE,  234,  282,  284,  353. 
La  Horla  (G.  de  Maupassant),  438. 
LA  METTRIE,  284,  293. 
LA  MONNOYE,  B.  de,  162. 
LA  MOTTE,  A.  de,  281. 
LA  NOUE,  F.  de,  145. 
LA  PERUSE,  140  n.  1. 
LA  ROCHEFOUCAULD,  due  de,  156, 

255,  258-260,  286. 
LA  SALLE,  A.  de,  73  n.  1,  105. 
La-Bas  (Huysmans),  439. 
LABE,  LOUISE,  129. 
LABICHE,  484. 
LAC£PEDE,  316. 
LACORDAIRE,  451. 

Lady  Tartuffe  (Delphine  Gay),  484. 
LAFCADIO  HEARN,  390,  414,  446. 
LAFOSSE,  A.  de,  266-267. 


547 


INDEX 


LAGRANGE-CHANCEL,  266. 

Lais,  27,  60. 

LALLY,  Comte  de,  299  n.  1. 

LAMARTINE,  327, 361, 363,  369,  37O- 

372,  381,  447,  448,  504. 
LAMBERT,  Mme.  de,  281. 
LAMBERT  11  TORS,  32. 
LAMBIN,  D.,  109. 

LAMENNAIS,  Abbe"  de,  404,  450-451. 
Lancelot  (Chrestien  de  Troyes),  27, 

28. 

LANCELOT,  C.,  190,  196. 
LANFREY,  461. 
LANG,  A.,  43,  134  n.  1,  303. 
Langue  d'Oc,  5,  6-7. 
Langue  d'O'il,  5-6. 
LANSON,  G.,  11,  46,  53,  75,  96,  167 

n.  2,  175,  176,  213,  215,  343,  345, 

487. 

LANZI,  426. 
Lapidaires    (Marbode,    Bishop    of 

Rennes),  47. 
LARIVEY,  141. 
LAROUSSE,  106  n.  3. 
LARROUMET,  202,  203. 
LASCARIS,  106,  108. 
LAUNAY,  Mile,  de,  281. 
LAVEDAN,  H.,  489. 
Lavinia  (G.  Sand),  403. 
LAVISSE,  E.,  462. 
LAVOISIER,  280. 
LAW,  J.,  279  n.  1. 
Lazare  (A.  Barbier),  400. 
Lazare  le  Patre  (Bouchardy),  484. 
LE  FRANC  DE  POMPIGNAN,  344. 
LE  Houx,  J.,  94. 

LE  MAISTRE  de  SACY,  190,  191,  196. 
LE  NOTRE,  254. 
LE  SAGE,  271-272,  340,  346. 
L'ESTOILE,  170. 
Lea  (M.  Prevost),  439. 
Leatherstocking  Series  (F.  Cooper), 

363. 
LEBRTTN,  C.,  253-254,  255. 


LEBRUN,  Ecouchard,  269,  344,  371. 
LECONTE  DE  LISLE,  444. 
LECOUVREUR,  Adrienne,  282,  291. 
LEFBVRE,  J.,  381. 
LSgataire  Universel,  Le,  (Regnard), 

270. 
L6gende  des  Siecles,  La,  (V.  Hugo), 

379. 
LSgendes  Epiques,  Les,  (J.  B6dier), 

18. 

Legislation  Primitive,  La,  (de  Bon- 
aid),  451. 
LEGOUVE,  E.,  482. 
LEGOUVE,  J.  B.,  353. 
Legs,  45. 

Legs,  Le,  (Marivaux),  340. 
LEIBNITZ,  281,  292,  319,  402. 
LEJEUNE,  le  Pere,  239. 
Lelia  (G.  Sand),  403. 
LEMAIRE  DE  BELGES,  103. 
LEMA!TRE,  J.,  96,  159,  340,  411,  440, 

463,  472,  477,  480,  489,  494,  514. 
LEMERCIER,  N6pomucene,  335,  336, 

360  n.  2. 

LEMMERCIER,  253  n.  2. 
LENA,  M.,  66  n.  1. 
LENIENT,  51. 
LEONARDO  DA  VINCI,  109. 
Leone  Leoni  (G.  Sand),  342,  403. 
Lgpreux  de  la  Cit6  d'Aoste,  Le,  (X. 

de  Maistre),  394. 
LERMONTOV,  363. 
LEROUX,  P.,  404. 
LESCOT,  P.,  253  n.  2. 
LESPINASSE,  Mile,  de,  282. 
LESSING,  206  n.  1,  215,  332,  358, 

367. 

LETOURNETTR,  277,  358. 
Lettre  &  1'Academie  (F6nelon),  266. 
Lettre  sur  les  Aveugles  (Diderot), 

331. 
Lettre    sur    les    Spectacles    (J.    J. 

Rousseau),  323. 
Lettres  (G.  de  Balzac),  157. 


548 


INDEX 


Lettres  (P.  L.  Courier),  399. 
Lettres  (Mirabeau),  351. 
Lettres  (Mme.  de  Stael),  366. 
Lettres  (Voiture),  156. 
Lettres  a  1'Etrangere  (Balzac),  422. 
Lettres  a  une  Autre  Inconnue  (P. 

Merimee),  424. 
Lettres  a  une  Inconnue  (P.  Me'ri- 

mee),  424. 
Lettres  de  Dupuis  a  Cotonnet  (A. 

de  Musset),  383. 
Lettres  de  Femmes  (M.  PreVost), 

439. 
Lettres  de  la  Campagne  (Tronchin), 

325. 

Lettres  de  la  Montague  (J.  J.  Rous- 
seau), 325. 
Lettres  de  mon  Moulin  (A.  Daudet), 

431,  432. 
Lettres  d'un  Voyageur  (G.  Sand), 

403. 
Lettres     Persanes     (Montesquieu), 

307,  309. 
Lettres   Philosophiques    (Voltaire), 

291. 
Lettres  sur  1'Histoire  de  France  (A. 

Thierry),  458. 
Lettres  sur  la  Musique  Fransaise 

(J.  J.  Rousseau),  320. 
Lettres  sur  le  Roman  de  la  Rose 

(Christine  de  Pisan),  54. 
L'HOSPITAL,  119,  146. 
Li  Parpaioun  Blu  (W.  B.  Wyse), 

449  n.  1. 

Life  of  Bertrand  Du  Guesclin,  56. 
Life  of  Saint  Le"ger,  1. 
LINGENDES,  le  Pere  de,  239. 
LINNE,  280. 

Lion  Amoureux,  Le,  (Ponsard),  483. 
Lionnes  Pauvres,  Les,  (E.  Augier), 

480. 

Lise  Fleuron  (G.  Ohnet),  411. 
Litte"rature    FranQaise    au    Moyen- 

Age  (G.  Paris),  34  n.  5. 


LITTRE,  E.,  452. 

Livre  des  Quatre  Dames,  Le,  (Alain 

Chartier),  61. 
Livre  du  Peuple,  Le,  (Lamennais), 

451. 

Livre  Rouge,  Le,  280. 
LOCKE,  J.,  184  n.  3,  290,  402. 
LOCKWOOD,  M.  C.,  304. 
Loi  de  1'Homme,  La,  (P.  Hervieu), 

490. 

LONGEPIEHRE,  266. 
LONGFELLOW,  448. 
LONGUEVILLE,  Duchess  of,  154, 155, 

157,  158  n.  1,  191,  192,  192  n.  1, 

260,  452. 
LORET,  503. 
LORRAIN,  LE,  255. 
Lorrains,  Les,  20. 
LORREIN,  495. 

Lon,  P.,  414-415,  430,  443. 
Louis,  329. 
Louis  IX,  Saint,  10. 
Louis  XI,  61,  70,  95  n.  1,  144. 
Louis  XI  (C.  Delavigne),  389. 
Louis  XIV,  150,  151,  159,  163,  164, 

181,  192,  196  n.  1,  198,  200,  201, 

202,  205,  209,  212,  213,  215,  239, 
I       240,  241,  244,  247,  249,  251,  252- 

255,    278,    279,    281,    289,   297, 

307. 

Louis  XV,  279,  320,  331,  337. 
Louis  XV  (Due  de  Broglie),  462. 
Louis  XVI,  339. 
Louis  XVII  (G.  Frauchois),  494. 
Louis  Lambert  (Balzac),  418. 
Lourdes  (E.  Zola),  436. 
Lous  Tre'sor  dou  F61ibrige  (Mistral) 

449. 

Lours,  446. 
LOYOLA,  I.  de,  117. 
Lucie,  etc.  (G.  de  Bouh^lier),  442. 
Lucrece  (A.  V.  Arnault),  353. 
Lucrece  (Ponsard),  483. 
Lucrece  Borgia  (V.  Hugo),  373. 


549 


INDEX 


Ludwigslied,  14  n.  2. 
Lui  et  EUe  (P.  de  Musset)>  405. 
LULLI,  221,  268. 
LUTHER,  499. 
Lutrin,  Le,  (Boileau),  210. 
LUZAN,  215. 

Lys  dans  la  Vall6e,  Le,  (Balzac), 
419. 

MABLY,  402. 

MACHIAVELLI,  425. 

MACROBIUS,  48. 

Madame  Attend  Monsieur  (Meilhac 

and  Halevy),  485. 
Madame  Bo  vary  (Flaubert),  427. 
Madame  Caverlet  (E.  Augier),  480. 
Madame  Chrysantheme   (P.  Loti), 

414. 
Madame  Gervaisais  (E.  and  J.  de 

Goncourt),  429. 
Madame  de  Sommerville  (J.  San- 

deau),  406. 
Madame  Sans-Gene  (V.  Sardou  and 

Moreau),  473. 
Madame  The'rese   (Erckmann-Cha- 

trian),  412. 

Mademoiselle  de  Belle-Isle  (A.  Du- 
mas pere),  407. 
Mademoiselle  de  Maupin  (T.  Gau- 

tier),  390. 
Mademoiselle  de  la  Quintinie   (G. 

Sand),  405,  412. 
Mademoiselle    de    la    Seigliere    (J. 

Sandeau),  406. 

Mademoiselle  Fifi  (G.  de  Maupas- 
sant), 438. 
Mademoiselle  Guignon  (A.  Theur- 

iet),  414. 
MAETERLINCK,  M.,  446,  487  n.  1, 

490-491,  493. 

Ma  Grande  (P.  Margueritte),  441. 
Mahabharata,  13. 
Mahomet  (Voltaire),  291,  292,  302. 
MAILLARD,  O.,  238. 


MAINTENON,  Mme.  de,  146  n.  2,  159, 
201,  215,  287. 

MAIRET,  J.,  166,  167. 

Maison  de  Penarvan,  La,  (J.  San- 
deau), 406. 

Maison  Neuve  (V.  Sardou),  472. 

Maison  Tellier,  La,  (G.  de  Maupas- 
sant), 438. 

MAISTRE,  J.  de,  450. 

MAISTRE,  X.  de,  392,  393-394. 

MaJtre  de  Forges,  Le,  (G.  Ohnet), 
411. 

Maitres  Sonneurs,  Les,  (G.  Sand), 
405. 

Maitresses  de  Louis  XV,  Les,  (E. 
and  J.  de  Goncourt),  429. 

Malade  Imaginaire,  Le,  (Moliere), 
223,  225. 

MALEBRANCHE,  268. 

MALFILATRE,  344. 

Malgre  Tout  (G.  Sand),  405. 

MALHERBE,  78,  129,  138-139,  152, 
153,  345,  357,  447. 

MALLARME,  S.,  445. 

MALLET,  329. 

MALLEVILLE,  129,  163. 

MALOT,  H.,  411. 

Man  in  the  Moon,  The,  (F.  Good- 
win), 161  n.  3. 

Manette  Salomon  (E.  and  J.  de 
Goncourt),  429.  . 

Manfred  (Byron),  483. 

Manlius  Capitolinus  (Lafosse),  266. 

Mannequin  d 'Osier,  Le,  (A.  France), 
416. 

Manon  Lescaut  (PreVost),  341,  479. 

MANSARD,  J.  H.,  253,  255,  261. 

Maratre,  La,  (Balzac),  420. 

MARCABRUN,  89. 

Mardoche  (A.  de  Musset),  384. 

Mare  au  Diable,  La,  (G.  Sand), 
405. 

Mar6chale  d'Ancre,  La,  (A.  de  Vig- 
ny),  387. 


550 


INDEX 


MARGUERITE  DE  NAVARRE,   or  de 

Valois,  45,  111,  130,  148. 
MARGUERITTE,  P.,  430,  440,  441. 
Mari  de  la  Veuve,  Le,  (A.  Dumas 

pere),  407. 
Mariage  d 'Argent,  Le,  (E.  Scribe), 

482. 
Mariage  de  Figaro,  Le,  (Beaumar- 

chais),  339,  349  n.  1. 
Mariage  de  Victorine,  Le,  (G.  Sand), 

335,  405. 
Mariage  d'Olympe,  Le,  (E.  Augier), 

479. 

Mariamne  (Tristan  1'Hermite),  166. 
Marianne  (A.  Hardy),  141. 
MARIE  DE  CHAMPAGNE,  27. 
MARIE  DE  FRANCE,  27,  40,  70  n.  1. 
Marie  Tudor  (V.  Hugo),  373. 
Marie-The'rese  (Due  de  Broglie),  462. 
MARINI,  153,  154. 

Marino  Faliero  (C.  Delavigne),  389. 
Marion  Delorme   (V.  Hugo),   373, 

479. 
Marius  a  Minturnes  (A.  V.  Arnault), 

353. 
MARIVAUX,  277,  281,  284,  34O-341, 

346. 

MARK  TWAIN,  101  n.  1. 
MARLOWE,  65. 
MARMONTEL,   282,   284,    329,   344, 

398  n.  1. 

MAROT,  C.,  54,  70,  96,  111,  129-132. 
MAROT,  J.,  103,  130. 
Marquis  de  Le'toriere,  Le,  (E.  Sue), 

410. 
Marquis  de  Villemer,  Le,  (G.  Sand), 

405. 
Marquis    Ridicule,    Le,    (Scarron), 

216. 

MARS,  Mile.,  389. 
Marseillaise,  La,  (Rouget  de  Lisle), 

355-356. 

Marthe  (Huysmans),  438. 
MARTIN,  H.,  462. 


MARTIN,  J.,  144. 

Martyrs,  Les,  (Chateaubriand),  364, 
457,  458. 

MASCARON,  239. 

MASSENET,  J.,  66  n.  1. 

MASSILLON,  239,  245,  249-251,  275. 

MATHIEU,  448. 

Mathilde  (E.  Sue),  410. 

Matteo  Falcone  (P.  MeVimee),  423. 

MATTHEWS,  Brander,  470,  473. 

MAUPASSANT,  G.  de,  437-438,  515 
n.  2. 

MAUPERTUIS,  277,  293,  294. 

Mauprat  (G.  Sand),  403. 

Mauvais  Riche  et  le  Ladre,  Le,  70. 

Mauvaise  Femme,  La,  36. 

Maximes  (La  Rochefoucauld),  259. 

Maximes  des  Saints  (F6nelon),  247. 

MAYNAHD,  129,  139. 

MAZARIN,  150,  151  n.  1,  253,  268, 
502. 

Mazarinade,  La,  (Scarron),  160 

Mazarinades,  151. 

Mechant,  Le,  (Cresset),  342. 

Medecin  de  Campagne,  Le,  (Bal- 
zac), 419. 

Meclecin  Malgrg  Lui,  Le,  (Moliere), 
38,  221. 

MSdee  (Corneille),  170. 

M6dee  (E.  LegouvS),  482  n.  1. 

Meditations  Poe'tiques  (Lamartine), 
370. 

Meditations  sur  1'Evangile  (Bos- 
suet),  243. 

MEILHAC  and  HALEVY,  424,  485- 
486. 

MEISTERSINGERS,  449  n.  2. 

MELANCHTHON,  499. 

Melanges,  etc.  (C.  Nodier),  393. 

Melanide  (La  Chaussee),  341. 

Me'le'agre  (Lemercier),  336. 

Me"liador  (Froissart),  60. 

Melite  (Corneille),  169. 

M6moires,  144-147. 


551 


INDEX 


Me'moires  (Beaumarchais),  337,  338, 

340. 

Me'moires  (Commines),  56. 
Meinoires  (Pellisson),  251. 
Me'moires  (Mme.  de  Reinusat),  462. 
Me'moires  (de  Retz),  255. 
Memoires  (Saint-Simon),  265-266. 
Memoires  (Villehardouin),  56. 
Me'moires  de  M.  Joseph  Prudhomme 

(H.  Monnier),  412. 
Me'moires  d'Outre-Tombe  (Chateau- 
briand), 365,  369. 

Memoires  du  Diable  (F.  Soulie),  410. 
Me'moires  d'un  Homme  de  Qualit£, 

etc.  (Provost),  341. 
Me'moires  d'un  M6decin  (A.  Dumas 

pere),  409. 
Memoires  d'un  Touriste  (Stendhal), 

426. 
Me'moires    sur    les    Grands    Jours 

d'Auvergne  (Fleshier),  248. 
MENAGE,  218,  256. 
MENANDER,  218. 
MENDES,  C.,  444  n.  1,  445,  487  n. 

1,  515  n.  2. 

Me'nechmes,  Les,  (Regnard),  270. 
MENNECHET,  168,  273. 
MENOT,  238. 
Menteur,  Le,  (Corneille),  168,  173, 

216. 

Menus  Propos,  etc.  (Toepffer),  394. 
MENZEL,  A.,  284  n.  1. 
MEON,  54. 

Mer,  La,  (Michelet),  461. 
Mercadet,  (Balzac),  420. 
MERCIER,  L.  S.,  335,  358. 
MERCIER  de  la  RIVIERE,  331. 
Mere  Coupable,  La,  (Beaumarchais), 

339. 

MERIMEE,  P.,  417,  423-424,  468. 
MERIVALE,  469. 

MERLIN,  10  n.  1,  28,  29,  30-31. 
Merope  (Voltaire),  291,  296,  301. 
MERRILL,  446. 


Mes  Haines  (E.  Zola),  435. 

Mes  Plagiats  (V.  Sardou),  472  n.  1. 

MEBCHINOT,  J.,  103. 

Mess6niennes,  Les,  (C.  Delavigne), 

388. 

Metamorphoses  (Ovid),  48. 
METENIER,  487. 

M6tromanie,  La,  (Piron),  269,  342. 
Meunier  d'Angibault,  Le,  (G.  Sand), 

404. 

MICHEL,  F.,  21,  54. 
Michel  Verneuil  (A.  Theuriet),  414. 
MICHELET,  J.,  110  n.  3,  460-461. 
Microcosmographie  (Earle),  263  n. 

1. 

Microme'gas  (Voltaire),  161,  291. 
MIGNET,  F.,  460,  504,  518. 
Migration  of  the  Fable,  The,  (Max 

Miiller),  34  n.  6. 
MILLET,  Abb£,  80. 
MILLOT,  90  n.  1. 
MILTON,  386,  402. 
Minerve  Frangaise,  144. 
MINNESINGERS,  449  n.  2. 
MIRABEAU,  280,  350-352,  443  n.  1, 

503,  509. 

MIRABEAU,  the  elder,  330,  351. 
Miracles,  64-68. 
Mirame  (Richelieu),  170. 
MIRBEAU,  O.,  430  n.  1,  494. 
MIRECOURT,  E.  de,  410. 
Mireio  (Mistral),  449. 
Misanthrope,    Le,    (Moliere),    212, 

220,  225-227. 
Mis<§rables,   Les,    (V.   Hugo),    376, 

377-378,  425. 

Miss  Sara  Sampson  (Lessing),  332. 
MISTRAL,  447,  448,  449. 
Mithridate  (Racine),  199. 
Modern  Drama,  468-496. 
Modern  Novel,  401-116. 
Mois,  Les,  (Roucher),  346. 
MOLIERE,  36,  53,  72,  137,  155,  160, 

161,  168,  196,  197,  206,  209,  212, 


552 


INDEX 


213,  214,  216-230,  233,  236,  255, 
266,  270,  275,  287,  340,  358,  384, 
478,  485,  486. 

MOLINET,  J.,  103. 

MOLINOS,  242  n.  1. 
Mon  Bonnet  de  Nuit  (Mercier),  336. 
Mon  Oncle  Celestin  (F.  Fabre),  442. 
Mon  Salon  (E.  Zola),  435. 
Monarchic  de  Juillet,  La,  (Thureau- 

Dangin),  462. 
Monde  ou  Ton  S'ennuie,  Le,  (Pail- 

leron),  485. 
MONDOR,  168. 
MONIOT,  91. 
Moniia  Vanna  (Maeterlinck),  490, 

491. 

MONNIER,  H.,  412. 
Monologue,  105. 
Monsieur  Alphonse  (A.  Dumas  fils) , 

476. 
Monsieur  de  Camors  (P.  Feuillet), 

412,  484. 
Monsieur    de    Pourceaugnac    (Mo- 

liere),  221. 
Monsieur  et  Madame  Cardinal  (L. 

Halevy),  486. 
Monsieur  le  Ministre  (J.  Claretie), 

442. 

Monsieur  Parent   (G.  de  Maupas- 
sant), 438. 

MONSTRELET,  60. 

Montagne,  La,  (Michelet),  461. 
MONTAIGNE,  53,  118,  125-128,  144, 

161  n.  2,  402,  453. 
Montaigne  (Dowden),  127. 
MONTAUSIER,  due  de,  156,  226. 

MONTCHRETIEN,  A.  de,  140. 

Monte-Cristo  (A.  Dumas  pere),  408, 

409. 

MONTESPAN,  Mme.  de,  256. 
MONTESQUIEU,  127,  246,  268,  276, 

277,  280,  281,  290,  306-315,  319, 

329,  349,  402,  461. 
Montesquieu  (Barkausen),  308  n.  2. 


MONTLUC,  B.  de,  118,  144. 
MONTPENSIER,  Mile,  de,   154,  255, 

259. 

Morale  de  Paris,  La,  (P.  Adam),  443. 
Moralites,  68-70. 
MOREAS,  J.,  446. 
MORETO,  219. 

Morgante  Maggiore  (Pulci),  26. 
Mort  d'Abel,  La,  (J.  B.  Legouv£), 

353. 
Mort  d'Agrippine,  La,  (Cyrano  de 

Bergerac),  161. 
Mort  d'Alexandre,  La,  (A.  Hardy), 

166. 
Mort  de  Cesar,  La,  (Voltaire),  290, 

302. 
Mort  de  Pompee,  La,   (Corneille), 

173. 
Mort  du  Due  d'Enghien,  La,  (Hen- 

nique),  487  n.  1. 
Morte  d'Arthur,  31  n.  1. 
Morticoles,  Les,  (L.  Daudet),  442. 
MOSELLY,  E.,  443. 
MOTTEVILLE,  Mme.  de,  25?. 
MOZART,  339. 
MULLER,  Max,  34. 
Muses  Galantes,  Les,  (J.  J.  Rous-Q 

seau),  320. 
Musotte  (G.  de  Maupassant  and  J. 

Normand),  438. 
MUSSET,  A.  de,  137  n.  1,  209  n.  2, 

361,  363,  370,  381-385,  392,  403, 

405,  406,  447,  468,  483,  484,  495, 

518. 

Myrrha  (J.  Lemaltre),  416. 
Mysteres,  64-68. 
Mysteres  de  Paris,  Les,  (E.  Sue), 

411. 

Nabab,  Le,  (A.  Daudet),  431. 
Namouna    (A.    de    Musset),    382, 

383. 

Nana  (E.  Zola),  435. 
Nanine  (Voltaire),  303. 


553 


INDEX 


NAPOLEON,  58,  267,  349,  350,  358, 
364,  366,  368,  400,  404,  407,  422, 
425,  426,  456,  457,  461,  473,  501, 
503,  504. 

Napoleon  le  Petit  (V.  Hugo),  378. 

Natchez,  Les,  (Chateaubriand),  362, 
363. 

Natural  History  (Pliny),  328  n.  1. 

Naturalistic  Novel,  434-439. 

NECKER,  Mme.,  284,  318,  347,  366. 

NENNIUS,  27. 

NETTEMENT,  400. 

Neveu  de  Rameau,  Le,  (Diderot), 
331. 

NEWTON,  290,  319. 

Nez  d'un  Notaire,  Le,  (E.  About), 
412. 

Nibelungen,  13. 

NICOLE,  190,  192,  196,  198. 

Nicomede  (Corneille),  173. 

NIETZCHE,  441,  443. 

NISARD,  D.,  95,  464. 

NlTHAKD,  3. 

Noces  d'Attila,  Les,   (H.  de  Bor- 

nier),  483. 
Noces  de  Figaro,  Les,  (Lorenzo  da 

Ponte),  339. 
Noctes  Atticae  (Aulus  Gellius),  196 

n.  1. 

NODIER,  C.,  392-393. 
Nos  Bons  Villageois  (V.  Sardou), 

471. 

Nos  Intimes  (V.  Sardou),  471. 
NOSTRADAMUS,  J.,  84. 
Notes  sur  1'Angleterre  (H.  Taine), 

455. 
Notes  sur  Paris,  etc.   (H.  Taine), 

455. 
Notre-Dame  de  Paris  (V.  Hugo), 

376-377. 
Nouveau  Dieu,   Le,  (P.  Souchon), 

494. 
Nouveau  Jeu,   Le,    (H.   Lavedan), 

489  n.  1. 


Nouveaux  Essais  (P.  Bourget),  440. 

Nouvelle  Heloise,  La,  (J.  J.  Rous- 
seau), 52,  358. 

Nouvelles  (A.  de  Musset),  382. 

Nouvelles  (A.  Dumas  pdre),  407. 

Nouvelles  Ge'nevoises  (Toepffer), 
394. 

NOVALIS,  360. 

Novel  of  the  Provinces,  442-443. 

Nuage  Rose,  Le,  (G.  Sand),  405. 

Nuits  (A.  de  Musset),  382. 

Numa  Roumestan  (A.  Daudet), 
432. 

NYROP,  135. 

Oath  of  Strasburg,  1. 

Oberle",  Les,  (R.  Bazin),  443. 

OCCAM,  William  of,  184. 

Odes  (A.  Chenier),  345. 

Odes  Sacre"es  (J.  B.  Rousseau),  269. 

Odes  et  Ballades  (V.  Hugo),  378. 

Odette  (V.  Sardou),  471. 

Odyssey,  13,  234,  246. 

CEdipe  (Corneille),  173. 

CEdipe  (Voltaire),  289. 

(Euvre,  L',  (E.  Zola),  435. 

OHNET,  G.,  411,  416,  494. 

Oiseau,  L',  (Michelet),  461. 

Oiseau  Bless6,  L',  (A.  Capus),  494 

n.  3. 
On  Ne  Badine  Pas  Avec  L' Amour 

(A.  de  Musset),  382. 
Oncle  Sam,  L',  (V.  Sardou),  469. 
Or,  L',  (M.  Magre),  494. 
Oraisons  Funebres  (Bossuet),  243. 
Oreste  (Voltaire),  302. 
Orientales,  Les,  (V.  Hugo),  378. 
Origines,  etc.,  Les,  (H.  Taine),  456. 
Origins  of  French  Poetry  (Auber- 

tin),  25. 
Orlando  Furioso  (Ariosto),  26,  31  n. 

1. 

Orlando  Innamorata  (Bajardo),  26. 
Orme  du  Mail,  L',  (A.  France),  416. 


554 


INDEX 


Ornement  des  Noces,  etc.  (Maeter- 
linck), 487  n.  1. 

Ornieres  de  la  Vie,  Les,  (J.  Claretie), 
442. 

Orphelin  de  la  Chine,  L',  (Voltaire), 
296. 

Ortis  (Foscolo),  363. 

OBSIAN,  386. 

Othello  (Shakespeare),  354. 

Othon  (Corneffle),  173. 

PAILLERON,  E.,  485. 

Paix  du  Manage,  La,   (G.  Courte- 

line),  488. 
PAXISSY,  118. 
Pamela  (Richardson),  342. 
Pamphlet   des   Pamphlets    (P.    L. 

Courier),  399. 
Pantagruel    (Rabelais),    117,    120- 

122,  393. 

Pantagrue'line  Pronostication  (Rab- 
elais), 119. 
Pantchatantra   (T.  Benfey),  34   n. 

3,  39  n.  1. 

Papillotos,  Les,  (Jasmin),  448. 
PARADIN,  145. 
Parallele    des    Anciens,    etc.    (Ch. 

Perrault),  212. 

Parents  Pauvres,  Les,  (Balzac),  419. 
PARFAICT,  brothers,  69. 
Paria,  Le,  (C.  Delavigne),  389. 
Paris  (E.  Zola),  436. 
PARIS,  Gaston,  7,  18,  19,  25,  30,  34, 

35,  44,  54,  90  n.  2,  96. 
Parisienne,  La,  (H.  Becque),  487. 
Parnasse  Contemporain,  444. 
PARNASSIENS,  390,  415,  444,  445, 

447,  455. 
PARNY,  359. 
,   PARODI,  A.,  494. 
Paroles  d'un  Croyant  (Lamennais), 

451. 
Paroles  Restent,  Les,  (P.  Hervieu), 

490. 


PASCAL,  B.,  191,  193-195,  219  n.  l\ 

252,  255,  402.  I 

PASQUIER,  E.,  62,  119. 
Passion,  The,  (Arnold  Gre'ban),  66. 
Passion  of  Christ,  The,  1. 
Pastels,  etc.  (P.  Bourget),  440. 
Pastourelle,  77. 
PATER,  W.,  424. 
Patrie  (V.  Sardou),  471. 
Patrie  en  Danger,  La,  (E.  and  J.  de 

Goncourt),  429,  487  n.  1. 
Patronne,  La,  (M.  Donnay),  489  n. 

2. 

PATRU,  O.,  157,  251. 
Pattes  de  Mouche,  Les,  (V.  Sardou), 

472. 
Paul    et    Virginie    (Bernardhi    de 

Saint-Pierre),  347,  348. 
PATTLET,  Mile.,  156. 
Pauvre  Diable,  Le,  (Voltaire),  303. 
Paysan  Parvenu,  Le,   (Marivaux), 

340. 

Paysans,  Les,  (Balzac),  419. 
Peau  de  Chagrin,  La,  (Balzac),  418. 
P&he"  de  M.  Antoine,  Le,  (G.  Sand), 

404. 

Pecheur  d'Islande  (P.  Loti),  414. 
P&iant  Joue",  Le,  (Cyrano  de  Ber- 

gerac),  161,  168. 
Peer  Gynt  (Ibsen),  488  n.  2. 
Pelerinage  de  Charlemagne,  Le,  19, 

23. 
Pelteas  et  Melisande  (Maeterlinck), 

491. 

PELLISSON,  P.,  251.     _* 
fPens6es  (Pascal),  193.) 
Pens£es  Philosophiques   (Diderot)  t 

331. 

PENTAUR,  13  n.  1. 
Pere  de  Famille,  Le,  (Diderot),  332. 
Pere  Goriot,  Le,  (Balzac),  419. 
PERRAULT,  Charles,  212,  447  n.  1. 
PERRAULT,  Claude,  253  n.  2,  255. 
Pertharite  (Corneille),  173. 


555 


INDEX 


PETIT  de  JTJLLEVILLE,  45,  69. 

Petit  Car6me  (Massillon),  249. 

Petit  Chose,  Le,  (A.  Daudet),  431. 

Petit  Testament  (F.  Villon),  97. 

Petite  Fadette,  La,  (G.  Sand),  405. 

Petite  Rogue,  La,  (G.  de  Maupas- 
sant), 438. 

Petites  Cardinal,  Les,  (L.  Halevy), 
486. 

PETRAKCH,  70  n.  1,  84,  88,  106,  367. 

Peur  d'Aimer,  La,  (G.  Frejaville), 
494. 

PaEDRUS,  43. 

Phedre  (Racine),  199,  206,  209,  494. 
Philinte    de    Moliere,    La,    (Fabre 

d'Eglantine),  354. 
Philosophe  Marie1,  Le,  (Destouches), 

341. 
Philosophe  Sans  le  Savoir,  Le,  (Se- 

daine),  335. 
Philosophe  Sous  les  Toits,  Un,  (E. 

Souvestre),  412. 
PHILOSOPHERS,  450-456. 
Philosophes    Classiques,    Les,    (H. 

Taine),  455. 
Philosophic  de  1'Art,  La,  (H.  Taine), 

455. 

Phyllis  (P.  Souchon),  494. 
PHYSIOCRATES,  330-331. 
Picciola  (Saintine),  412. 
PIERRE  DE  SAINT-CLOUD,  32. 
PIERRE  I/ERMITE,  238. 
Pierre  et  Jean  (G.  de  Maupassant), 

438. 

PILPAY,  39  n.  1. 
Pinto  (Lemercier),  336. 
Pio  RAJNA,  13. 

Piquillo  Aliaga  (E.  Scribe),  506  n.  1. 
PIRON,  A.,  269,  275,  277,  342-343, 

398  n.  1. 

PlXERECOURT,  335,  484. 

Place  Royale,  La,  (Corneille),  170, 

173. 
Plaideurs,  Les,  (Racine),  198,  251. 


PLANCHE,  G.,  464. 

PLANUDE,  234. 

PLATO,  171,  185  n.  4,  233  n.  2,  293. 

PLAUTUS,  218,  221  n.  2,  224  n.  2, 

228  n.  1. 
Playdoyer  de  la  Simple,  etc.  (Co- 

quillart),  73. 

PLEIADE,  La,  109,  132,  137,  140. 
PLESSYS,  M.  de,  446. 
PLUTARCH,  128. 
POE,  E.  A.,  472  n.  1. 
Poema  del  Cid,  13. 
Poemes  Antiques  et  Modernes  (A. 

de  Vigny),  386. 
Poe'sies  Nouvelles  (A.  de  Musset), 

382. 

Poissons,  etc.,  Les,  (Lace'pede),  316. 
Politique  Tiree  de  L'Ecriture  Sainte 

(Bossuet),  240,  241. 
Polyeucte  (Corneille),  173,  180. 
Pomone  (Perrin  and  Cambert),  268. 
POMPADOUR,   Mme.   de,   279,    329, 

330. 

PONSARD,  F.,  483. 
PONTUS  de  THIARD,  132. 
POPE,  215,  290,  402. 
PORPHYRY,  182. 
PORTO-RICHE,  G.  de,  489. 
PORT-ROYAL,  188-193,  198. 
Port-Tarascon  (A.  Daudet),  432. 
Portraits  Intimes,  etc.  (E.  and  J. 

de  Goncourt),  429. 
Portraits   Litteiaires    (Lamartine), 

372. 
Portraits  Litteiaires  (Sainte-Beuve), 

465. 

Pot-Bouille  (E.  Zola),  435. 
Pour  et  le  Centre,  Le,  (O.  Feuillet), 

412. 
Pour  et  le  Centre,  Le,   (PreVost), 

342. 

POUSSIN,  255. 
PRADON,  199. 
Prascovie,  etc.  (X.  de  Maistre),  394. 


556 


INDEX 


PRECIETJSES,  152-158,  267,  278,  493. 

Pr6cieuses  Ridicules,  Les,  (Moliere), 
155,  218,  227. 

Prectecesseurs  et  Contemporains  de 
Shakespeare  (A.  MSzieres),  359. 

Preface  de  Cromwell  (V.  Hugo),  167 
n.  2,  468. 

Prejug^  a  la  Mode,  Le,  (La  Chaus- 
see),  341. 

Preliminary     Discourse     (d'Alem- 
bert),  328. 

PRERAPHAELITES,  445. 

Presbytere,  Le,  (Toepffer),  394. 

PREVOST,  Marcel,  439. 

PREVOST  d'Exiles,  Abb<$,  277,  341, 
346,  479,  503. 

Princesse    Aurelie,    La,    (C.    Dela- 
vigne),  389. 

Princesse  de  Babylone,  La,   (Vol- 
taire), 303. 

/Princesse  de  Cleves,  La,  (Mme. 
I      La  Fayette),  258. 

Trincesse    d'Elide,    La,    (Moliere), 
219. 

Princesse  Lointaine,  La,  (E.  Ros- 
tand), 91,  492,  493. 

Princesse    Maleine,    La,     (Maeter- 
linck), 490. 

Prisonniers  du  Caucase,   Les,   (X. 
de  Maistre),  394. 

Profession  de  Foi,  etc.  (J.  J.  Rous- 
seau), 323,  325. 

Promenades  dans  Rome  (Stendhal), 
426. 

Proslogium  (Anselm),  183. 

Provencale,  La,  (Regnard),  270. 

Provinciates  (Pascal),  191. 

Psalms  (Marot),  131. 

Psychological  Novel,  The,  440-441. 

Pucelle,  La,  (Chapelain),  157. 

Pucelle,  La,  (Voltaire),  303. 

PUGET,  255. 

Pulchene  (CorneiUe),  173. 

PULCI,  26,  383. 


*} 


PUSHKIN,  363. 

Pyrame  et  Thisb6   (Th6ophile   de 

Viau),  166. 
PYRRHO,  185  n.  8. 
PYTHAGORAS,  185  n.  7. 

Quadriloge  Invectif  (Alain  Char- 
tier),  61. 

Quarante  Ans  de  Theatre  (F.  Sar- 
cey),  495. 

Quarrel  of  the  Ancients,  etc.,  212, 
213,  266,  273. 

Quarrel  of  the  Cid,  171. 

Quart  d'Heure  de  Rabelais,  123. 

Quatre  Evangiles, Les,  (E.Zola), 436. 

Quatre  Fils  Aimon,  Les,  19. 

Quatre  Vents  de  1'Esprit,  Les,  (V. 
Hugo),  379. 

Quatre- Vingt-Treize  (V.  Hugo),  376, 
378. 

Quenouille  de  Barberine,  La,  (A. 
de  Musset),  382. 

Querelle  des  D6sesp6res,  La,  (Ma- 
rim),  153. 

Q0ESNAY,  F.,  330. 

Question  d'Argent,  La,  (A.  Dumas 

fils),  477. 
Quietism,  242. 
QUINAULT,  268. 
QUINET,  E.,  16. 
Quitte  Pour  la  Peur  (A.  de  VIgny), 

388. 

Rabagas  (V.  Sardou),  471. 
RABELAIS,  38,  45,  53,  60,  72,  103, 

113,  118,  119-124,  142,  236,  237, 

393,  399. 

Rabelais  (Tilley),  124. 
RACAN,  129,  139,  157,  166. 
RACHILDE,  Mme.,  443. 
RACINE,  J.,  129,  167,  190,  196-208, 

209,  211,  212,  213,  214,  215,  233, 

251,  255,  266,  267,  300,  345,  356, 

358,  468. 


557 


INDEX 


RACINE,  L.,  200,  214,  277. 
Rafale,  La,  (Bernstein),  494  n.  5. 
Ramayana,  13. 
RAMBOUILLET,  Hotel  de,  152-158, 

239,  278,  281,  288,  493. 
Ramuntcho  (P.  Loti),  415. 
RAMUS,  110. 
Rantzau,    Les,    (Erckmann-Chatri- 

an),  412. 

Raoul  de  Cambrai,  20. 
Raphael  (Lamartine),  372. 
RAYNAUD,  E.,  446. 
RAYNOUARD,  80,  85. 
Rayons  et   les   Ombres,    Les,    (V. 

Hugo),  379. 
Reali  di  Francia,  26. 
Realistic  Novel,  The,  417-433. 
RECAMIER,  Mme.,  369,  451. 
Recent  Poetry,  411  419. 
Recherche  de  1'Absolu,   La,    (Bal- 
zac), 419. 
Re'cits  des  Temps  Me>ovingiens  (A. 

Thierry),  459. 
Recueil  General  des  Fabliaux  (A. 

de  Montaiglon  and  G.  Raynaud), 

34  n.  9. 

Red  Book  of  Hergest,  28  n.  3. 
Reflexions,  etc.  (Turgot),  331. 
Reflexions  sur  Longin  (Boileau), 

212. 

REFORMATION,  110-116. 
Refonne,  La,  (F.  Mignet),  460. 
REGNAHD,  270-271,  275,  340. 
REGNIEB,  H.  de,  446. 
REGNIER,  M.,  137,  142,  214. 
REID,  T.,  452. 
Reinaert  de  Vos,  42  n.  1. 
Reine  Coax,  La,  (6.  Sand),  405. 
Reine  Fiammetta,  La,  (C.  Mendes), 

487  n.  1. 
Reine  Margot,  La,  (A.  Dumas  pere), 

408. 

Reineke  Fuchs  (Goethe),  42  n.  1. 
Religieuse,  La,  (Diderot),  331. 


Religions  et  la  Religion,  Les,   (V. 

Hugo),  379. 
Remarques   sur   la    Langue  TYan- 

caise  (Vaugelas),  157. 
Remplac.antes,    Les,    (E.    Brieux), 

488. 

REMUSAT,  de,  518. 
RENAISSANCE,  105-116. 
RENAN,  E.,  440,  453-454,  463,  465, 

466,  505,  518. 
RENARD,  J.,  442. 
Renart  le  Contrefait,  43. 
Renart   le    Nouveau    (Jacquemard 

Gelee),  43. 

Renaud  de  Montauban,  19. 
RENAUDOT,  Theophraste,  502. 
Rene  (Chateaubriand),  362,  363. 
Renee  Mauperin  (E.  and  J.  de  Gon- 

court),  429. 
RENOUVIER,  378  n.  1. 
Reponses  a  un  Provincial  (Bayle), 

273. 

RESSEGUIER,  381. 
RETZ,  de,  255,  260-261. 
Reve,  Le,  (E.  Zola),  435,  436. 
R6veries  du  Promeneur  Soh'taire  (J. 

J.  Rousseau),  327. 
Revolution  dans  les  Moeurs,  La,  (E. 

and  J.  de  Goncourt),  429. 
Revolutions    de    France,    etc.    (C. 

Desmoulins),  353. 
Rhadamiste  et  Zenobie  (Crebillon), 

267. 

RICHARD  DE  LISON,  41. 
RICHARD  CCEUR  DE  LION,  80,  87. 
Richard     Darlington     (A.     Dumas 

pere),  407. 

Richard  Sans  Peur,  33. 
RICHELIEU,  58,  158,  163,  170,  171, 

173,   190,    253,    260,    287,    387, 

502. 

RICHEPIN,  J.,  446,  483,  495. 
Richeut,  35. 
RIMBAUD,  A.,  446. 


558 


INDEX 


RIVOIRE,  494. 

Robe  Rouge,  La,  (E.  Brieux),  488. 
Robert  le  Diable,  33. 
Robespierre  (V.  Sardou),  472. 
Robin  Hood,  Tales  of,  34  n.  1. 

ROCHEBLAVE,  385. 

ROD,  E.,  425,  426,  440,  441. 

RODENBACH,  446. 

Rodogune  (Corneille),  173. 

Roi  des  Montagues,  Le,  (E.  About), 

412. 

Roi  Louis,  Le,  19. 
Roi  S'Amuse,  Le,  (V.  Hugo),  373. 
Rois  en  Exil,  Les,  (A.  Daudet),  432. 
ROLAND,  Mme.,  284-285. 
ROLLIN,  Ch.,  268. 
Roman  Bourgeois,  Le,  (Furetiere), 

162. 
Roman    Comique,    Le,    (Scarron), 

160,  166,  390. 

Roman  de  Brut  (Wace),  28. 
Roman  de  la  Charrette  (Chrestien 

de  Troyes),  31  n.  2. 
Roman  de  la  Rose  (G.  de  Lorris 

and  J.  de  Meung),  45,  48-54,  61, 

105,  116. 

Roman  de  Renart,  40,  116. 
Roman  de  Rou  (Wace),  17. 
Roman  de  Troie  (Benott  de  Sainte- 

More),  32. 
Roman  du  Chaperon  Rouge,   Le, 

(A.  Daudet),  431. 
Roman  d'un  Honne'te  Femme,  Le, 

(V.  Cherbuliez),  413. 
Roman  d'un  Jeune  Homme  Pauvre, 

Le,  (O.  Feufflet),  411,  484. 
Roman  Experimental,  Le,  (E.  Zola), 

434. 
Romance   of  Cliges   (Chrestien   de 

Troyes),  29. 
Romance  of  Percevale  (Chrestien  de 

Troyes),  28. 
Romance  of  Victor  Hugo,  etc.  (H. 

W.  Wack),  380. 


Romanciers  Naturalistes,  Les,  (E. 

Zola),  434. 
Romanesques,  Les,   (E.  Rostand), 

492. 

ROMANTICISTS,  The,  370-391. 
Rome  (E.  Zola),  436. 
Rondeaux,  60. 
RONSARD,  109,  129,  132,  133,  134- 

137,  141,  142. 
ROSCELLINUS,  182. 
Rose  et  Blanche  (G.  Sand  and  J. 

Sandeau),  403. 
Rose-Use   Chanteraine    (A.    Theur- 

iet),  414. 

Rosmersholm  (Ibsen),  488  n.  2. 
Rosmonda  (Rucellai),  140. 
ROSNY,  J.  H.,  430,  441^142. 
ROSTAND,  E.,  162,  444  n.  1,  446, 

483,  491-493. 
Rotisserie  de  la  Reine  PeVlauque, 

La,  (A.  France),  416. 
ROTROU,  166,  168,  169,  171. 
ROUGHER,  346. 
Rouge  et  le  Noir,  Le,  (Stendhal), 

175,  425,  426. 
Rougon-Macquart,  Les,  (E.  Zola), 

435. 

ROUMANILLE,  448,  449. 
Round  Table,  10,  27,  28,  29. 
ROUSSEAU,  J.  B.,  269-270,  280, 371. 
ROUSSEAU,  J.  J.,  52,  127,  246,  262, 

277,  283,  285,  300,  319-327,  329, 

346,  348,  349,  361,  402,  413,  503. 
Rousseau,  Juge  de  Jean-Jacques  (J. 

J.  Rousseau),  327. 
ROUSSEL,  111. 
Royal  Cycle,  19. 
ROYER-COLLARD,  450,  452. 
RUDEL  DE  BLAYA,  80,  90. 
RUTEBEUF,  11,  44,  64. 
Ruy  Bias  (V.  Hugo),  373. 


SABLE,  Mme.  de,  156,  259. 
SACY,  Silveetre  de,  34,  504,  505. 


559 


INDEX 


Sagesse  et  la  Destined,  La,  (Maeter- 
linck), 491. 
SAINT- AMANT,  162. 
SAINT-ARMAND,  129. 
SAINT-BERNARD,  238. 
SAINT-BONAVENTURE,  184. 
SAINT-CYRAN,  188,  190. 
SAINT-EVREMOND,    161   n.   2,   268, 

287. 

SAINT-LAMBERT,  343. 
SAINT-MARC  GIRARDIN,  464. 
SAINT-PIERRE,  Abbe1  de,  297. 
SAINT-SIMON,   175,   245,   253,  255, 

261,  365-266,  420,  423. 
SAINT- VINCENT  de  PAUL,  149,  239. 
SAINTE-BEUVE,  40,  125,  139,   194, 

256,  370,  381,  382,  394,  400,  406, 

423,    426,    464-465,    506,    516, 

518. 

SAINTINB,  412. 
SAINTSBURY,   121,   143  n.   2,   225, 

398,  414,  447,  471,  473. 
Saisons,  Les,  (Saint-Lambert),  343. 
Salammbo  (G.  Flaubert),  427. 
SALES,  Francois  de,  239. 
SALLO,  Denis  de,  517. 
SALONS,  281-285,  368-369. 
Salons  (Diderot),  331,  334. 
Samaritaine,  La,  (E.  Rostand),  492. 
Samson  (Bernstein),  494  n.  5. 
Samuel  Brohl  et  Cie    (V.  Cherbu- 

liez),  413. 
SAND,  George,  327,  335,  342,  361, 

383,  385  n.  1,  401^06,  432. 
SANDEAU,  J.,  403,  406,  480,  518. 
Sans  Famille  (H.  Malot),  411. 
Sapho  (A.  Daudet),  432. 
SARCEY,  F.,  412,  463,  474,  489,  495, 

516. 

SARDOU,  V.,  331,  468,  469-473,  478. 
SARRAZIN,  129,  158. 
Satira  Menippea  (Varro),  142. 
Satire  Me'nippe'e,  119,  142-144,  399. 
Satires  (Boileau),  142,  209. 


Satires  (RSgnier),  142. 

Saul  le  Furieux  (Jean  de  la  Taille), 

140. 

Saule,  Le,  (A.  de  Musaet),  382. 
Sauvageonne  (A.  Theuriet),  414. 
SCARRON,  P.,   129,    158,    159-161, 

216,  287,  390. 
Scenes  et  Comedies  (O.  Feuillet), 

412. 
Scenes    Populaires    (H.    Monnier), 

412. 
SCEVE,  M.,  129. 

SCHELLING,  360. 

SCHERER,  E.,  465. 
Schi-King,  13  n.  1. 
SCHILLER,  260,  303,  360,  367,  393, 

410. 
SCHLEGEL,  Von,  360. 

SCHOLLE,  F.,  15. 
SCHROEDER,  332. 

Scipion  (A.  V.  Arnault),  353. 
SCOTT,  Walter,  219  n.  3,  230,  410, 

418,  45r. 
SCRIBE,  E.,  389,  412,  481-482,  484, 

485,  506  n.  1. 
SCUDERY,  129,  168,  171. 
SCUDERY,  Mile,  de,  154,  158  n.   1, 

163,  257,  258,  259. 
Secchia  Rapita,  La,  (Tassoni),  210, 

n.  1. 
Seconde  Vie  de  Michel  Teissier,  La, 

(E.  Rod),  441. 
Secret  du  Roi,  Le,  (Due  de  Broglie), 

462. 
Secretaire  Intime,  Le,   (G.  Sand), 

403. 

SEDAINE,  160,  335-336. 
SEMAIN,  446. 
SEMIPELAGIANS,  189. 
Semiramis  (Voltaire),  291,  296,  302. 
SENAULT,  le  Pere,  239. 
SENECA,  62,  128,  140,  141. 
Sentiments  de  I'Acad^mie,  171. 
SEPET,  M.,  15. 


560 


INDEX 


Sept  Cordes  de  la  Lyre,  Lea,    (G. 

Sand),  404. 

Sept  Sages  de  Rome,  34. 
Sequence  of  Saint  Eulalie,  1. 
Seraphine  (V.  Sardou),  471. 
Seraphita  (Balzac),  418. 
Serge  Panine  (G.  Ohnet),  411. 
SERICOURT,  de,  190. 
SEBIZAY,  163. 
SERRES,  O.  de,  118. 
Serres  Chaudes,  Les,  (Maeterlinck), 

446,  490. 

Sertorius  (Corneille),  173. 
SERVETUS,  M.,  112. 
Servitude    et    Grandeur    Militaires 

(A.  de  Vigny),  387. 
SEVIGNE,  Mme.  de,  155,  190,  191, 

213,    244,    256-257,    278,    283, 

309. 

SEYSSEL,  C.  de,  95  n.  1. 
SHAKESPEARE,  11,  96,  219,  290,  302, 

354,  357,  358,  372,  373,  402,  420, 

423. 
Shakespeare  dans  1'Ancien  Regime 

(Jusserand),  359. 
SHAW,  G.  B.,  469,  470,  472. 
Sibylle  (O.  Feuillet),  405,  412. 
Siecle    de    Louis   XIV,    Le,    (Vol- 
taire), 255,  293,  303. 

SlENKIEWICZ,  449. 

SIEYES,  Abbe",  352. 
SIMON,  32. 
SIMON,  Jules,  514. 
Simple   Discoura   (P.   L.   Courier), 
399. 

SlNGLIN,  190. 

SIRVEN,  299  n.  1. 
Sirventes,  83. 

SISMONDI,  82  n.  2,  85  n.  1,  87  n.  1. 
SOCRATES,  248,  286,  372. 
Soeur  Beatrice  (Maeterlinck),  491. 
Soeur  Jeanne  (G.  Sand),  405. 
Soeur  Philomele  (E.  and  J.  de  Gon- 
court),  429. 


Soeurs  Vatard,    Les,    (Huysmans), 

438. 

Sofonisba  (Trissino),  140. 
Soirees  de  M&ian,  Les,   (E.  Zola, 

Huysmans,  etc.),  438. 
Soirees  de  Saint-Pe'tersbourg,  Les, 

(J.  de  Maistre),  450. 
Somnambule,  La,  (E.  Scribe  and  C. 

Delavigne),  389. 
Son    Excellence     Eugene    Rougon 

(E.  Zola),  435. 
Songe  d'Enfer  (Raoul  de  Houdan), 

48. 

Sophonisbe  (Corneille),  173. 
Sophonisbe  (J.  Mairet),  166. 
Sophonisbe  (Montchr6tien),  140. 
SORBON,  Robert  de,  57  n.  2. 
Sorciere,  La,  (Michelet),  461. 
SOREL,  166. 
SOREL,  A.,  462. 
Soties,  68-70. 
SOUCHON,  P.,  494. 
SOULIE,  F.,  406,  410. 
SOUMET,  381. 

Sous  1'CEil  des  Barbares  (M.  Bar- 
res),  441. 

Sous  les  Tilleuls  (A.  Karr),  395. 
Souvenirs,  etc.  (Mme.  Lenormand), 

369  n.  1. 

Souvenirs  d'Enfance,  etc.,  453. 
SOUVESTRE,  E.,  412. 
Spectacle  dans  un  Fauteuil,  Un,  (A. 

de  Musset),  382. 
Spectator,    The,     (Addison),    277, 

309,  342. 

SPINOZA,  305,  456. 
Spiridion  (G.  Sand),  404. 
Spiritual  Exercises  (Loyola),  117. 
STAEL,  Mme.  de,  277,  284,  327,  360, 

361,  365-368,  369,  463,  503. 
Statique  des  Ve'ge'taux  (Hales),  315. 
STEELE,  277. 

Stello  (A.  de  Vigny),  387. 
STEMHOWEL,  H.,  70  n.  1. 


37 


561 


INDEX 


STENDHAL,  175  n.  1,  417,  424-426, 

443. 

STERNE,  394. 

STEVENSON,  R.  L.,  376  n.  2,  408. 
STEWART,  Dugald,  452. 

SUDERMANN,  488. 

SUE,  E.,  406,  41O-411,  506. 
Suivante,  La,  (Corneille),  169. 
SULLY,  119,  145. 
SULLY-PRUDHOMME,  444. 
SULPICIUS  SEVERUS,  2  n.  1. 
Supplice    d'une    Femme,    Le,    (A. 

Dumas  file),  477. 
SurSna  (Corneille),  173. 
Surprise    de   1'Amour,    La,    (Mari- 

vaux),  340. 

Suzanne  (H.  Gre>ille),  413. 
SWEDENBORG,  418. 
SWIFT,  161,  290,  497. 
SWINBURNE,  103,  104,  445. 
SYMBOLISTS,  445,  446. 
SYMONDS,  J.  A.,  436,  486. 
SYMONS,  A.,  491. 
Systeme  de  la  Nature,  Le,  (d'Hol- 

bach),  284. 

TABARIN,  168. 

TABLE  DE  MARBRE,  69  n.  2. 

TACITUS,  14  n.  1,  422. 

TAILLE,  Jean  de  la,  140,  141. 

TAILLEFER,  17. 

Tailleur  de  Pierre,  etc.,  Le,  (Lam- 

artine),  372. 
TAINE,  H.,  234,  236,  261,  385  n.  2, 

420,  426,  440,  454-456,  463,  465, 

518. 
Tales  of  Canterbury  (Chaucer),  70 

n.  1. 

TALLEMANT  DEB  REAUX,  152,  239. 
TALLIEDE,  R.  de  la,  446. 
TALMA,  266,  267,  389. 
Tancrede  (Voltaire),  296,  302. 
Tartarin  de  Tarascon  (A.  Daudet), 

432. 


Tartarin  sur  les  Alpes  (A.  Daudet), 

432. 
Tartuffe  (Moliere),  220,  220  n.   1, 

225,  227. 
TASSO,  26. 
Tatler,  The,  277. 
TAVAN,  448. 
TAVANNES,  G.  de,  145. 
Taverne    des    Etudiants,    La,    (V. 

Sardou),  471. 

Te'le'maque  (FSnelon),  213,  246. 
Temple    de    Gnide,    Le,    (Montes- 
quieu), 309. 
Temple  Enseveli,  Le,  (Maeterlinck), 

491. 

Tenailles,  Les,  (P.  Hervieu),  489. 
TENCIN,  Mme.  de,  282,  333. 
TENNYSON,  28  n.  2,  385  n.  2. 
Tensons,  84. 
Tentation    de    Saint- Antoine,    La, 

(Flaubert),  428. 
TERENCE,  218,  224  n.  2. 
Te're'sa  (A.  Dumas  pere),  407. 
TERRASSON,  281. 
Terre,  La,  (E.  Zola),  435,  436,  437, 

439. 
Terre  Promise,   La,   (P.  Bourget), 

440. 
Terre  Qui  Meurt,  La,  (R.  Bazin). 

443. 

Terres  Lorraines  (P.  Moselly),  443. 
THACKERAY,  432,  511  n.  1. 
Thais  (A.  France),  416. 
Theatre   Anglais,   Le,    (Delaplace), 

358. 

THEATRE  ANTOINE   (THEATRE    LI- 
BRE), 416,  487-190. 
Theatre  de  Clara  Gazul,  etc.,  Le, 

(P.  M4rimee),  423. 
THEATRE  DES  POETES,  494. 
Theatre  Impossible,  Le,  (E.  About), 

412. 
The'atre-Francais,     see      Come'die- 

Francaise. 


562 


INDEX 


Th£baide,  La,  (Racine),  197. 

THEOCRITUS,  345. 

Theodora  (V.  Sardou),  471. 

THEOPHILE,  129. 

The>ese    Raquin    (E.    Zola),    435, 

486. 

Thermidor  (V.  Sardou),  472. 
THEURIET,  A.,  413-414,  443,  446. 
THIEBAUT  IV,  87. 
THIERRY,  A.,  8,  61,  458-459,  518. 
THIERS,  A.,  350,  460,  504. 
THOMAS,  30. 
THOU,  de,  119,  145. 
TIECK,  360. 

TOCQUEVILLE,  A.  de,  461,  504. 
TOEPFFER,  R.,  392,  394. 
Tolla  (E.  About),  412. 
TOLSTOY,  488. 

Tombe'or  de  Nostre  Dame,  Le,  66. 
Tosca,  La,  (V.  Sardou),  472. 
Toto  Chez  Tata  (Meilhac  and  Hal- 

evy),  485. 
Tour  de  Nesle,  La,  (A.  Dumas  pere), 

407,  408. 
Tour  du  Monde,  etc.,  Le,  (J.  Verne), 

413. 

TOUROULDE  (THEROULDE),  21. 
TOUSSAINT,  329. 
Toute  Seule  (A.  Theuriet),  414. 
Trage'die  du  Nouveau  Christ,   La, 

(G.  de  Bouhelier),  442. 
Tragiquea,    Les,     (A.    d'Aubigne), 

142,  148. 
Trait4  de  la  Connaissance  de  Dieu, 

etc.  (Bossuet),  240,  241. 
Traite  des  Etudes  (Rollin),  268. 
Traite1  des  Flexions  (Newton),  315. 
Travail  (E.  Zola),  436. 
Travailleurs  de   la   Mer,   Les,    (V. 

Hugo),  376,  378,  379. 
Tresor  des  Humbles,  Le,  (Maeter- 
linck), 491. 

Trilby,  etc.  (Ch.  Nodier),  392. 
Tristan  de  Leonnais,  28. 


Tristan  le  Roux  (A.  Dumas  fils), 
475. 

Tristan  and  Yseult  (Wagner),  30. 

Tristram  Shandy  (Sterne),  331. 

TROGUS  POMPEJUS,  2  n.  1. 

Trois  Cceurs,  Les,  (E.  Rod),  440. 

Trois  Contes  (Flaubert),  428. 

Trois  Mousquetaires,  Les,  (A.  Du- 
mas pere),  408,  410. 

Trompeur  Puni,  Le,  (Scude'ry),  168. 

Tronsons  du  Glaive,  Les,  (P.  and 
V.  Margueritte),  441. 

Trophees,  Les,  (J.  M.  de  Heredia), 
445. 

TROUBADOURS,  90-91. 

Troubadours  and  Trouveres  (H.  W. 
Preston),  85  n.  1. 

TROUVERES,  15-18. 

Turcaret  (Le  Sage),  271-272. 

TURENNE,  243,  248,  256. 

TURGENIEFF,  421. 

TURGOT,  329,  331. 

TURLUPIN,  169. 

TURNEBE,  Odet  de,  141. 

Typhon  ou  la  Gigantomachie  (Scar- 
ron),  160. 

TYRT^US,  388  n.  1. 

UHLAND,  447. 

Un  Beau  Mariage  (E.  Augier),  480. 

Un  Cheval  de  Phidias  (V.  Cherbu- 

liez),  413. 
Un  Client  S6rieux  (G.  Courteline), 

488. 

Un  Homme  Libre  (M.  Barres),  441. 
Un   Mariage   sous   Louis   XV    (A. 

Dumas  pere),  407. 
Un  Pere  Prodigue  (A.  Dumas  fils), 

477. 

Une  Chaine  (E.  Scribe),  482. 
Une    Evasion    (Villiers   de    L'lsle- 

Adam),  487  n.  1. 
Une  Page  d'Amour  (E.  Zola),  435, 

436. 


563 


INDEX 


Une  Vie  (G.  de  Maupassant),  438. 
UNIVERSITY  OF  PARIS,  58,  183. 
URANISTES  ET  JOBELJNS,  157. 
URFE,  H.  d',  153. 

VACQUERIE,  478. 

Vair  Palefroi,  La,  35. 

Valcreuse  (J.  Sandeau),  406. 

Valentine  (G.  Sand),  403. 

Valvedre  (G.  Sand),  405. 

VAPEREATJ,  393,  417. 

Vase  Etrusque,  Le,   (P.  Me'rime'e), 

423. 

VATJGELAS,  153,  157,  251. 
Vaux  de  Vire,  93. 
Veill^e  de  Vincennes,   La,    (A.   de 

Vigny),  335  n.  1. 

Venice  Preserved  (T.  Otway),  266. 
Ventre    de    Paris,    Le,    (E.    Zola), 

435. 

V£nus  d'llle,  La,  (P.  Merimee),  423. 
VSpres  Siciliennes,   Les,    (C.  Dela- 

vigne),  389. 
Ve>ite  (E.  Zola),  436. 
VERLAINE,  P.,  445. 
VERNE,  J.,  161,  413. 
VERNON,  P.,  443. 
Verre  d'Eau,  Le,  (E.  Scribe),  482. 
Vert-Vert  (Cresset),  342. 
VETTER,  H.  J.,  123  n.  1. 
Veuve,  La,  (Corneille),  169,  173. 
VIATJ,  The'ophile  de,  161  n.  2. 
Vicar   of   Wakefield,    The,    (Gold- 
smith), 486. 
Vicomte    de    Bragelonne,    Le,    (A. 

Dumas  pere),  408. 
Vie  d'Henriette  d' Angle terre  (Mme. 

de  La  Fayette),  258. 
Vie  de  J6sus  (E.  Renan),  453. 
Vie  de  Marianne  (Marivaux),  340. 
Vie  de  Saint- Alexis,  15. 
Vie  de  Saint-Thomas  de  Cantorbery 

(Gamier    de    Pont    Sainte-Max- 

ence),  55. 


Vie  Litteraire,  La,  (A.  France),  415, 

466. 
Vie  Privee  de  Michel  Teissier,  La, 

(E.  Rod),  441. 
Vie  des  Abeilles,  La,  (Maeterlinck), 

491. 

VIELE-GRIFFIN,  446. 
Vies  des   Dames   Galantes   (Bran- 
tome),  146. 
Vies   des    Hommes   Illustres,    etc. 

(Brantome),  146. 
VIGNT,  A.  de,  335  n.  1,  361,  370, 

381,  385-388,  398,  445,  468,  518. 
Vilain  Mire,  Le,  38. 
Vilain  Qui  Conquit  Paradis,   etc., 

Le,  36. 

ViLLEHAKDOtriN,  G.  de,  25,  56. 
VILLEMAIN,  8,  59,  61,  82,  248,  266, 

275,  290,  308,  310,  311,  457,  464, 

518. 

VlLLEROI,  145. 

VILLON,  F.,   73  n.  1,  92,  95-104, 

129,  214,  381,  445. 
VINET,  A.,  324,  464. 
Vingt  Ans  Apres  (A.  Dumas  pere), 

408. 

Virelais,  60. 
VIRGIL,  136.,  160,  345. 
Virgile  Travesti  (Scarron),  160. 
VISCONTI,  253  n.  2. 
VISHNU-SARMA,  234. 
Visionnaires,    Les,    (Desmarets    de 

Saint-Sorlin),  216. 
Vo3iix  d'un  Solitaire,  Les,  (Bernar- 

din  de  Saint-Pierre),  348. 
Voie    du   Paradis,    La,    (Raoul   de 

Houdan),  48. 

VOITXJRE,  129,  152,  156,  212,  239. 
Voix  Inte"rieures  (V.  Hugo),  379. 
Voleur,  Le,  (Bernstein),  494  n.  5. 
VOLNET,  329,  368. 
VOLTAIRE,  52,  53, 127, 161, 163, 191, 

204,  210,  236,  249,  255,  267,  269, 

270,  275,  277,  280,  283,  286-305, 


564 


INDEX 


309,  310,  313,  318,  322,  323,  327, 

329,  334,  335,  340,  342,  349,  358, 

468. 

Volucraires,  47. 
Voyage  &  1'Ile  de  France  (Bernar- 

din  de  Saint-Pierre),  347.. 
Voyage  au  Centre  de  la  Terre  (J. 

Verne),  413. 
Voyage  Autour  de  ma  Chambre  (X. 

de  Maistre),  394. 
Voyage  Autour  de  mon  Jardin  (A. 

Karr),  395. 
Voyage  de  M.  Perrichon,  Le,  (La- 

biche),  485. 

Voyage  en  Orient  (Lamartine),  372. 
Voyages  en  Zigzag  (Toepffer),  394. 

WAGE,  17. 
WAGNER,  30. 
WALPOLE,  H.,  282,  283. 
WAKENS,  Mme.  de,  319,  320. 
Wasps,  The,  (Aristophanes),  198. 
WATTEAU,  430. 


WEBER,  Von,  360. 
WEISS,  J.  J.,  427. 
WELLS,  B.  W.,  426,  462. 
Werther  (Goethe),  324,  358,  363. 
WIELAND,  358,  367. 
Wilhelm  Meister  (Goethe),  160. 
William  of  Orange,  19. 
WILLIAM  OF  POITIERS,  85-86. 
WILLY,  442. 

WlNCKELMAN,  424. 

Ysopets,  39. 

Yvain,  28. 

Yvette  (G.  de  Maupassant),  438. 

YVON,  329. 

Zadig  (Voltaire),  291,  303. 
Zaire  (Voltaire),  296,  300-301. 
Zayde  (Mme.  de  La  Fayette),  257. 
ZENO,  185  n.  10. 
ZOLA,  E.,  424,  426,  430,  433,  434- 

437,  438,  440,  441,  442,  455,  486, 

514,  515  n.  1  and  n.  2. 
Zulime  (Voltaire),  296. 


0) 


THE    END 


\ 


THE  GREATEST  LIVING  ACTRESS. 

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By  SARAH  BERNHARDT.  Profusely  illustrated. 
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The  most  famous  of  living  actresses,  Sarah  Bern- 
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With  Walt  Whitman  in  Camden. 

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